Metagenomic Analyses Expand Bacterial and Functional Profiling Biomarkers for Colorectal Cancer in a Hainan Cohort, China

This study was conducted for the metagenomic analysis of stool samples from CRC affected individuals to identify biomarkers for CRC in Hainan, the only tropical island province of China. The gut microbiota of CRC patients differed significantly from that of healthy and reference database cohorts based on Aitchison distance and Bray-Cutis distance but there was no significant difference in alpha diversity. Furthermore, at the species level, 68 species were significantly altered including 37 CRC-enriched, such as, Fusobacterium nucleatum, Parvimonas micra, Gemella morbillorum, Citrobacter portucalensis, Alloprevotella sp., Shigella sonnei, Coriobacteriaceae bacterium, etc. Sixty-seven different metabolic pathways were acquired, and pathways involved in the synthesis of many amino acids were significantly declined. Besides, 2 identified antibiotic resistance genes performed well (area under the receive-operation curve AUC = 0.833, 95% CI 58.51-100%) compared with virulence factor genes. The results of the present study provide region-specific bacterial and functional biomarkers of gut microbiota for CRC patients in Hainan. Microbiota is considered as a non-invasive biomarker for the detection of CRC. Gut microbiota of different geographic regions should be further studied to expand the understanding of markers, especially for the China cohort due to diverse nationalities and lifestyles.

Automated summary

This study analyzed the gut microbiota of CRC patients in Hainan and identified region-specific bacterial and functional biomarkers, which could potentially serve as non-invasive markers for CRC detection. Further research on gut microbiota in different geographic regions, especially in the diverse population of China, is needed to expand the understanding of markers for CRC.