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Changes of intestinal microflora of breast cancer in premenopausal women

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European Journal of Clinical Microbiology & Infectious Diseases Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Breast cancer is one of the most common malignant tumors in women. More than half of breast cancer patients are not menopausal at the time of diagnosis. The occurrence and development of premenopausal breast cancer are affected by many factors. Intestinal flora, especially SCFA-producing bacteria, participates in the development of various tumors, and there is a lack of in-depth research in premenopausal breast cancer patients. We used 16S rRNA gene sequencing, targeted metabolomics, and cell culture methods to analyze the changes in the intestinal flora and metabolites of premenopausal breast cancer patients. In addition, we treated breast cancer cells with significantly altered propionate and butyrate in vitro to examine their effects on cell activity. This study followed STROBE guidelines. We found that compared with healthy premenopausal women, the composition and symbiosis of intestinal flora in patients with premenopausal breast cancer changed significantly. The abundance of short-chain fatty acid (SCFA)–producing bacteria was significantly reduced, and the key SCFA-producing enzymes were also significantly reduced. Pediococcus and Desulfovibrio could distinguish premenopausal breast cancer patients from normal premenopausal women. The related propionate and butyrate had a certain ability to inhibit breast cancer cell viability in vitro. As SCFA-producing bacteria, Pediococcus and Desulfovibrio showed potential reference value for the diagnosis of premenopausal breast cancer. The ability of propionate and butyrate to inhibit breast cancer cell lines in vitro suggests that the relevant SCFA receptor may be a new target for the treatment of premenopausal breast cancer.

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Data availability

The datasets generated during and/or analyzed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

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Funding

This work was supported by the Anhui University Natural Science research project (KJ2019A0427), Young Research Fund of Wannan Medical College (WK2019F42), and Applied Medical Research Project of Hefei Municipal Health Commission (HWK2016ZC007).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Interventional Therapy, The Second Affiliated Hospital of Wannan Medical College, Wuhu, China

    Chuan He

  2. Department of Cardiology, Jizhou District People’s Hospital, Tianjin, China

    Yue Liu

  3. Department of Endocrinology, The First Affiliated Hospital of USTC (Anhui Provincial Hospital), University of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, China

    Shandong Ye

  4. Department of Intervention and Vascular Surgery, The Second People’s Hospital of Hefei, Hefei Hospital Affiliated to Anhui Medical University, Hefei, China

    Shiwu Yin

  5. Department of Endocrinology, The Second Affiliated Hospital of Wannan Medical College, Wuhu, China

    Junfei Gu

Authors
  1. Chuan He
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  2. Yue Liu
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  3. Shandong Ye
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  4. Shiwu Yin
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Contributions

Junfei Gu and Shiwu Yin conceived and designed the research. Chuan He provided clinical samples, drafted the manuscript, and interpreted the data. Yue Liu analyzed the data. Shandong Ye provided clinical samples and clinical consultation. All authors contributed to the writing of the manuscript and approved the final version.

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Correspondence to Shiwu Yin or Junfei Gu.

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All procedures performed in studies involving human participants were in accordance with the ethical standards of the institutional and/or national research committee and with the 1964 Helsinki declaration and its later amendments or comparable ethical standards.

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He, C., Liu, Y., Ye, S. et al. Changes of intestinal microflora of breast cancer in premenopausal women. Eur J Clin Microbiol Infect Dis 40, 503–513 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10096-020-04036-x

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10096-020-04036-x

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