A specific colonization of microbes in the reproductive tract is commonly found in women with ovarian cancer, according to a new study from Mayo Clinic's Center for Individualized Medicine. The discovery, published in Scientific Reports, strengthens evidence that the bacterial component of the microbiome — a community of microorganisms that also consists of viruses, yeasts and fungi — is an important indicator for early detection, diagnosis and prognosis of ovarian cancer.
The study also suggests that a higher accumulation of pathogenic microbes plays a role in treatment outcomes and could be a potential indicator for predicting a patient's prognosis and response to therapy.
For the study, the researchers investigated samples of 30 women undergoing a hysterectomy for ovarian cancer and compared them to samples of 34 women undergoing a hysterectomy for a benign condition. They used high-throughput sequencing to analyze the samples, which were recovered from the lower and upper reproductive tract, peritoneal fluid, urine, and anal microbiome.
In the women with ovarian cancer, the team observed a colonization of disease-causing bacteria, including Dialister, Corynebacterium, Prevotella and Peptoniphilus.
