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Characterization of microbiota in acute leukemia patients following successful remission induction chemotherapy without antimicrobial prophylaxis

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Abstract

Purpose

In the present study, we characterized the microbiomes of acute leukemia (AL) patients who achieved complete remission following remission induction chemotherapy (RIC) as outpatients, but who did not receive antimicrobials to treat or prevent febrile neutropenia.

Methods

Saliva and stool samples from 9 patients with acute myeloid leukemia, 11 patients with acute lymphoblastic leukemia, and 5 healthy controls were subjected to 16S ribosomal RNA sequencing at baseline and at 3 months following RIC. Only patients who achieved remission at 3 months post-treatment were included. We excluded anyone who used antimicrobials within 2 months of enrollment or at any time during the study period.

Results

At baseline, the relative abundances of species of Prevotella maculosa (P=0.001), Megasphaera micronuciformis (P=0.014), Roseburia inulinivorans (P=0.021), and Bacteroides uniformis (P=0.004) in saliva and Prevotella copri (P=0.002) in the stools of controls were significantly higher than in AL patients. Following RIC, the relative abundances of Eubacterium sp. oral clone DO008 (P=0.012), Leptotrichia sp. oral clone IK040 (P=0.002), Oribacterium sp. oral taxon 108 (P=0.029), Megasphaera micronuciformis (P=0.016), TM7 phylum sp. oral clone DR034 (P<0.001), Roseburia inulinivorans (P=0.034), Actinomyces odontolyticus (P=0.014), Leptotrichia buccalis (P=0.005), and Prevotella melaninogenica (P=0.046) in saliva and Lactobacillus fermentum (P=0.046), Coprococcus catus (P=0.050), butyrate-producing bacterium SS3/4 (P=0.013), and Bacteroides coprocola (P=0.027) in the stools of AL patients were significantly greater than in controls.

Conclusion

Following RIC, several taxa are changed in stool and salvia samples of AL patients. Our results warrant future large-scale multicenter studies to examine whether the microbiota might have an effect on clinical outcomes of AL patients.

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Data Availability

All data generated or analyzed during this study are included in this article (and its Supplementary Information File 1).

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Funding

This research was supported by grants from the National Natural Science Foundation of China (grant no. 81360089), Science and Technology Program of Department of Science and Technology of Yunnan Province (grant no. 202001AY070001-070), and the Scientific and Technological Commission of Yunnan Province (grant nos. 2015FB072, 2017FE468 (-204), and 2018FE001 (-113)). The funders had no role in the design of the study or the collection, analysis and interpretation of data, or in writing the manuscript.

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Contributions

ZS, HC, and LfY were responsible for the conception and design of the study. ZS, HC, WM, LlY, XG, MH, RZ, YZ, KL, LW, LL, JY, and LfY were responsible for data acquisition and analyses. ZS and LW were in charge of statistical analysis. ZS and HC drafted the manuscript and ZS, HC, WM, and LfY contributed to revisions. All authors have read and approved the final version of the submitted manuscript.

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Correspondence to Liefen Yin.

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The study was performed in accordance with the principles of the Declaration of Helsinki with regard to ethical research involving human subjects, and our protocols were approved by the Research Ethics Committee of Yunnan Cancer Hospital and Kunming Medical University.

Written informed consent was obtained from all participants or the parents/legally authorized representatives of participants prior to enrollment.

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The authors declare no competing interests.

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Shen, Z., Gu, X., Cao, H. et al. Characterization of microbiota in acute leukemia patients following successful remission induction chemotherapy without antimicrobial prophylaxis. Int Microbiol 24, 263–273 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10123-021-00163-3

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10123-021-00163-3

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