Dysbiosis of the duodenal microbiota as a diagnostic marker for pancreaticobiliary cancer

Abstract

BACKGROUND Pancreaticobiliary cancer (PB Ca) is a lethal disease, and a useful diagnostic marker is urgently needed. A correlation between the human microbiota and malignant gastrointestinal diseases was recently reported. AIM To investigate the efficacy of the duodenal microbiota for diagnosing PB Ca. METHODS We recruited 22 patients with benign pancreaticobiliary diseases (benign group) and 12 patients with PB Ca (malignant group). The duodenal microbiota of each patient was analyzed by the 16S rDNA terminal restriction fragment length polymorphism method. Patient characteristics, tumor markers, and relative abundances of the duodenal microbiota were compared between the benign and malignant groups. RESULTS Cancer antigen 19-9 (CA19-9), Bifidobacterium, Clostridium cluster XVIII, and Prevotella levels differed significantly between the benign and malignant groups. Clostridium cluster XVIII had the greatest area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (AUC) among the four factors with respect to diagnosing PB Ca (cutoff value: 3.038%; sensitivity: 58.3%; specificity: 95.2%; AUC: 0.81). The combination of Clostridium cluster XVIII (cutoff value: 3.038%) and CA19-9 Levels (cutoff value: 18.8 U/mL) showed 91.7% sensitivity and 71.4% specificity for diagnosing PB Ca. CONCLUSION The duodenal microbiota may be useful for PB Ca screening.