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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Genet.
Sec. Human and Medical Genomics
Volume 15 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fgene.2024.1366131

Gut microbiota as a prognostic biomarker for unresectable hepatocellular carcinoma treated with anti-PD-1 therapy

Provisionally accepted
Yujing Xin Yujing Xin 1Gang Peng Gang Peng 2Wei Song Wei Song 1Xiang Zhou Xiang Zhou 2*Xiaojing Cao Xiaojing Cao 2Xiaojing Cao Xiaojing Cao 2
  • 1 Department of Oncology, Shandong Provincial Hospital, Jinan, Shandong Province, China
  • 2 Cancer Hospital, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences and Peking Union Medical College, Beijing, Beijing Municipality, China

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    To investigate the relationship between the gut microbiome and the response to anti-PD-1-based combination therapy in unresectable hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). We aimed to identify potential non-invasive biomarkers and new strategies to modulate immunotherapy in HCC.In this study, fresh stool samples and clinical data were collected from unresectable HCC patients treated with anti-PD-1-based combination therapy at the Cancer Hospital of the Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences between January 2020 and December 2021. The patients were divided into two groups based on their response to treatment: the treatment responder group (R group) and the treatment non-responder group (NR group). The composition and diversity of the gut microbiome were bioinformatically analyzed by using the Whole Genome Shotgun strategy, including taxonomic composition analysis, Alpha diversity analysis, Beta diversity analysis, and differentially enriched bacterial taxa analysis. Differentially enriched bacterial taxa factors for PFS, and the abundance of Bacteroides_AF20_13LB was an independent related factor of OS.The enrichment of specific gut microbiota affected clinical efficacy and survival benefits in HCC treated with anti-PD-1 therapy and may be a promising non-invasive gut microbial biomarker and a new strategy for modulating immunotherapy in HCC.

    Keywords: Unresectable hepatocellular carcinoma, Gut Microbiota, PD-1 inhibitor, Lenvatinib, clinical efficacy

    Received: 05 Jan 2024; Accepted: 18 Sep 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Xin, Peng, Song, Zhou, Cao and Cao. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Xiang Zhou, Cancer Hospital, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences and Peking Union Medical College, Beijing, 100021, Beijing Municipality, China

    Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.