Progressive dysbiosis of human orodigestive microbiota along the sequence of gastroesophageal reflux, Barrett's esophagus and esophageal adenocarcinoma

Abstract The incidence of esophageal adenocarcinoma (EA) has drastically increased in the United States since 1970s for unclear reasons. We hypothesized that the widespread usage of antibiotics has increased the procarcinogenic potential of the orodigestive microbiota along the sequence of gastroesophageal reflux (GR), Barrett's esophagus (BE) and EA phenotypes. This case control study included normal controls (NC) and three disease phenotypes GR, BE and EA. Microbiota in the mouth, esophagus, and stomach, and rectum were analyzed using 16S rRNA gene sequencing. Overall, we discovered 44 significant pairwise differences in abundance of microbial taxa between the four phenotypes, with 12 differences in the mouth, 21 in the esophagus, two in the stomach, and nine in the rectum. Along the GR→BE→EA sequence, oral and esophageal microbiota were more diversified, the dominant genus Streptococcus was progressively depleted while six other genera Atopobium, Actinomyces, Veillonella, Ralstonia, Burkholderia and Lautropia progressively enriched. In NC, Streptococcus appeared to control populations of other genera in the foregut via numerous negative and positive connections, while in disease states, the rich network was markedly simplified. Inferred gene functional content showed a progressive enrichment through the stages of EA development in genes encoding antibiotic resistance, ligands of Toll‐like and NOD‐like receptors, nitrate‐nitrite‐nitric oxide pathway and acetaldehyde metabolism. The orodigestive microbiota is in a progressive dysbiotic state along the GR‐BE‐EA sequence. The increasing dysbiosis and antibiotic and procarcinogenic genes in the disease states warrants further study to define their roles in EA pathogenesis.