Microbiome diversity in African American, European American, and Egyptian colorectal cancer patients

Purpose: Although there is an established role for microbiome dysbiosis in the pathobiology of colorectal cancer (CRC), CRC patients of various race/ethnicities demonstrate distinct clinical behaviors. Thus, we investigated microbiome dysbiosis in Egyptian, African American (AA), and European American (EA) CRC patients. Patients and methods: CRCs and their corresponding normal tissues from Egyptian (n = 17) patients of the Alexandria University Hospital, Egypt, and tissues from AA (n = 18) and EA (n = 19) patients at the University of Alabama at Birmingham were collected. DNA was isolated from frozen tissues, and the microbiome composition was analyzed by 16S rRNA sequencing. Differential microbial abundance, diversity, and metabolic pathways were identified using linear discriminant analysis (LDA) effect size analyses. Additionally, we compared these profiles with our previously published microbiome data derived from Kenyan CRC patients. Results:Differential microbiome analysis of CRCs across all racial/ethnic groups showed dysbiosis. There were high abundances of Herbaspirillum and Staphylococcus in CRCs of Egyptians, Leptotrichia in CRCs of AAs, Flexspiria and Streptococcus in CRCs of EAs, and Akkermansia muciniphila and Prevotella nigrescens in CRCs of Kenyans (LDA score \u3e4, adj. p-value Conclusions: Our findings showed altered mucosa-associated microbiome profiles of CRCs and their metabolic pathways across racial/ethnic groups. These findings provide a basis for future studies to link racial/ethnic microbiome differences with distinct clinical behaviors in CRC

Evaluation of a paper by Guarnaccia et al. (2017) on the first report of Phyllosticta citricarpa in Europe

27The Plant Health Panel reviewed the paper by Guarnaccia et al. (2017) and compared theirfindingswith previous predictions on the establishment ofPhyllosticta citricarpa. Four species ofPhyllostictawere found by Guarnaccia et al. (2017) in Europe.P. citricarpaandP. capitalensisare well-definedspecies, withP. citricarparecorded for thefirst time in Europe, confirming predictions by Magareyet al. (2015) and EFSA (2008, 2014, 2016) thatP. citricarpacan establish in some European citrus-growing regions. Two new speciesP. paracitricarpaandP. paracapitalensiswere also described, withP. paracitricarpa(found only in Greece) shown to be pathogenic on sweet orange fruits.Genotyping oftheP. citricarpaisolates suggests at least two independent introductions, with the population inPortugal being different from that present in Malta and Italy.P. citricarpaandP. paracitricarpawereisolated only from leaf litter in backyards. However, sinceP. citricarpadoes not infect or colonise deadleaves, the pathogen must have infected the above living leaves in citrus trees nearby. Guarnacciaet al. (2017) considered introduction to be a consequence ofP. citricarpahaving long been present orof illegal movement of planting material. In the Panel’s view, the fruit pathway would be an equally ormore likely origin. The authors did not report how surveys for citrus black spot (CBS) disease werecarried out, therefore their claim that there was no CBS disease even where the pathogen was presentis not supported by the results presented. From previous simulations, the locations where Guarnacciaet al. (2017) foundP. citricarpaorP. paracitricarpawere conducive forP. citricarpaestablishment, withnumber of simulated infection events by pycnidiospores comparable to sites of CBS occurrence outsideEurope. Preliminary surveys by National Plant Protection Organisations (NPPOs) have not confirmed sofar thefindings by Guarnaccia et al. (2017) but monitoring is still ongoingopenopenJeger, Michael; Bragard, Claude; Caffier, David; Candresse, Thierry; Chatzivassiliou, Elisavet; Dehnen‐Schmutz, Katharina; Gilioli, Gianni; Grégoire, Jean‐Claude; Jaques Miret, Josep Anton; MacLeod, Alan; Navajas Navarro, Maria; Niere, Björn; Parnell, Stephen; Potting, Roel; Rafoss, Trond; Rossi, Vittorio; Urek, Gregor; Van Bruggen, Ariena; Van Der Werf, Wopke; West, Jonathan; Winter, Stephan; Baker, Richard; Fraaije, Bart; Vicent, Antonio; Behring, Carsten; Mosbach Schulz, Olaf; Stancanelli, GiuseppeJeger, Michael; Bragard, Claude; Caffier, David; Candresse, Thierry; Chatzivassiliou, Elisavet; Dehnen‐schmutz, Katharina; Gilioli, Gianni; Grégoire, Jean‐claude; Jaques Miret, Josep Anton; Macleod, Alan; Navajas Navarro, Maria; Niere, Björn; Parnell, Stephen; Potting, Roel; Rafoss, Trond; Rossi, Vittorio; Urek, Gregor; Van Bruggen, Ariena; Van Der Werf, Wopke; West, Jonathan; Winter, Stephan; Baker, Richard; Fraaije, Bart; Vicent, Antonio; Behring, Carsten; Mosbach Schulz, Olaf; Stancanelli, Giusepp

Immunophenotypic profiles and prognosis for colorectal mucinous adenocarcinomas are dependent on anatomic location

Abstract Background The prognostic value of mucinous adenocarcinomas (MCAs, exhibiting >50% extracellular mucin) of the colorectum, in relation to their anatomic location is not well studied. Materials and Methods We compared MCAs (n = 175) with non‐MCAs (NMCAs, n = 1015) and the cancer‐specific survival rates were evaluated, based on their anatomic site, by univariate Kaplan–Meier and multivariate Cox methods. Subsets of these tumors were immunostained for MUC1, MUC2, Bcl‐2, and p53. Results MCAs were more commonly found in the right colon, were of high‐grade, and were more prevalent in younger patients (<40 years). They exhibited strong expression of MUC2 and Bcl‐2 and showed less p53 nuclear staining. In contrast, most NMCAs were low‐grade with high expression of MUC1. MCAs of the rectum were associated with poorer outcomes relative to NMCAs (HR 1.85, CI 95% 1.15–2.97), even though the distributions of advanced‐stage tumors were similar. Conclusion Late‐stage disease and age were poor independent prognostic indicators of cancer‐specific deaths across all tumor locations. In summary, rectal MCAs have a poor prognosis

The combined survival effect of codon 72 polymorphisms and p53 somatic mutations in breast cancer depends on race and molecular subtype.

BackgroundThe codon 72 polymorphism in the p53 gene relates to the risk of breast cancer (BC), but this relationship in racially diverse populations is not known. The present study examined the prognostic value of this polymorphism for African American (AA) and Caucasian (CA) BC patients separately and considered the confounding variables of molecular subtypes and somatic mutations in p53.MethodsTissue sections of BCs from 116 AAs and 160 CAs were evaluated for p53 mutations and genotyped for the codon 72 polymorphism. The relationships of phenotypes to clinicopathologic features were determined by χ2 analyses; patient survival was estimated by Kaplan-Meier univariate and Cox regression multivariate models in a retrospective cohort study design.ResultsThe proportion of single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) 72 alleles differed for races. Many cancers of AAs were Pro/Pro, but most for CAs were Arg/Arg. A higher frequency of missense p53 mutations was evident for AAs. There was an interaction between the SNP allele and p53 mutations for AA women only. The proportion of women with both the Pro/Pro allele and a p53 somatic mutation was higher for AA than CA women. The interaction between missense p53 mutations and Pro/Pro had a negative effect on survival, particularly for AAs with luminal cancers.ConclusionsFor BCs, the survival effect of SNP72 combined with a p53 missense mutation is dependent on race and molecular subtype. Although such a mutation is a marker of poor prognosis, it is relevant to identify the variant Pro/Pro in the case of AAs, especially those with luminal subtypes of BC