Correlation between changes of oral bacterial flora and radiation-induced oral mucositis during radiotherapy for head and neck
Shu Zekai1, Wang Baikui2, Wang Lei3, Chen Ming3, Li Weifen2, Chen Yuanyuan3
1Second Clinical Medical College, Zhejiang Chinese Medical University, Hangzhou 310053, China; 2College of Animal Sciences Zhejiang University, Hangzhou 310058, China; 3Cancer Hospital of the University of Chinese Academy of Sciences (Zhejiang Cancer Hospital), Institute of Basic Medicine and Cancer, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Hangzhou 310022, China
Abstract：Objective To investigate the correlation between the changes of oral bacterial flora during head and neck radiotherapy and radiation-induced oral mucositis (ROM). Methods The oral bacterial samples of patients with nasopharyngeal carcinoma and accompanying family members were obtained before and at the end of radiotherapy and subjected to high-throughput sequencing. C57BL/6 mice were used to establish the ROM models. On the 9th day after radiotherapy, oral bacterial samples were collected in the radiotherapy group and the negative control group. On the 3rd, 5th, 7th, and 9th days post-radiotherapy, the tongue tissues were obtained from another batch of mice in the negative control and radiotherapy groups. Inflammatory factors were detected with PCR and HE staining was performed. Results The oral bacterial diversity of patients after radiotherapy significantly differed from that of patients before radiotherapy and their accompanying family members before and after radiotherapy in Observed species,Chao1, Simpson index (all P<0.05). There was a significant difference in Shannon index between the severe and mild ROM patients (P=0.036). LEfSe analysis showed that patients with severe ROM had higher levels of g_Streptococcus and f_Streptococcus, and lower levels of f_Familyxl, g_Gemini and o_Bacillus. The Simpson index and PCoA results in the oral bacterial samples significantly differed between the negative control and radiotherapy groups (all P<0.05). Conclusions Radiotherapy can disrupt the balance of bacterial flora. The dysregulated oral bacterial flora is closely associated with the aggravation of ROM.
Shu Zekai,Wang Baikui,Wang Lei et al. Correlation between changes of oral bacterial flora and radiation-induced oral mucositis during radiotherapy for head and neck[J]. Chinese Journal of Radiation Oncology, 2021, 30(7): 665-670.
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