Frontiers in Endocrinology (Nov 2023)

Association of Cutibacterium acnes with human thyroid cancer

  • Vaishakhi Trivedi,
  • Vaishakhi Trivedi,
  • Vanita Noronha,
  • Vanita Noronha,
  • Peddagangannagari Sreekanthreddy,
  • Sanket Desai,
  • Sanket Desai,
  • Disha Poojary,
  • Linu Varghese,
  • Pooja Gowda,
  • Ashwin Butle,
  • Rohit Mishra,
  • Munita Bal,
  • Munita Bal,
  • Neha Mittal,
  • Neha Mittal,
  • Swapnil Rane,
  • Swapnil Rane,
  • Shubhada Kane,
  • Sandip Basu,
  • Vijay Patil,
  • Nandini Menon,
  • Ajay Kumar Singh,
  • Pankaj Chaturvedi,
  • Pankaj Chaturvedi,
  • Pratik Chandrani,
  • Pratik Chandrani,
  • Pratik Chandrani,
  • Anuradha Choughule,
  • Anuradha Choughule,
  • Vidya Veldore,
  • Kumar Prabhash,
  • Kumar Prabhash,
  • Amit Dutt,
  • Amit Dutt

DOI
https://doi.org/10.3389/fendo.2023.1152514
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 14

Abstract

Read online

IntroductionThe diverse subtypes of thyroid carcinoma have distinct clinical outcomes despite a comparable spectrum of underlying genetic alterations. Beyond genetic alterations, sparse efforts have been made to characterize the microbes associated with thyroid cancer. In this study, we examine the microbial profile of thyroid cancer.MethodsWe sequenced the whole transcriptome of 70 thyroid cancers (40 papillary and 30 anaplastic). Using Infectious Pathogen Detector IPD 2.0, we analysed the relative abundance of 1060 microbes across 70 tumours from patients with thyroid cancer against 118 tumour samples from patients with breast, cervical, colorectal, and tongue cancer.ResultsOur analysis reveals a significant prevalence of Cutibacterium acnes in 58.6% thyroid cancer samples compared to other cancer types (p=0.00038). Immune cell fraction analysis between thyroid cancer samples with high and low Cutibacterium loads identify enrichment of immunosuppressive cells, including Tregs (p=0.015), and other anti-inflammatory cytokines in the tumour microenvironment, suggesting an immune evasion/immunosuppression milieu is associated with the infection. A higher burden of Cutibacterium acnes was also found to be associated with poor survival defining a distinct sub-group of thyroid cancer.ConclusionCutibacterium acnes is associated with immune suppression and poor prognosis in a subpopulation of thyroid cancer. This study may help design novel therapeutic measures involving appropriate antibiotics to manage the disease better.

Keywords