Evidence map›Paper›PMID 28118849›Full record

ArticleMicrobiome2017

Distinguishing potential bacteria-tumor associations from contamination in a secondary data analysis of public cancer genome sequence data.

Kelly M Robinson, Jonathan Crabtree, John S A Mattick, Kathleen E Anderson, Julie C Dunning Hotopp

Open access · goldAbstract read
In one paragraph

Article in Microbiome, 2017. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 61 papers.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
61citing papers in PubMed
2.5field-weighted citation impact, top 11% of its field
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

61 citing papers in PubMed, 87 citations in OpenAlex.

  1. Review
  2. Article
  3. Article
  4. Altered Bacteria Abundance Is Associated With Outcomes in Head and Neck Squamous Cell Carcinoma.Otolaryngology--head and neck surgery : official journal of American Academy of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery · 2025
    Article
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  6. Review
  7. Review
  8. Contamination Survey of Insect Genomic and Transcriptomic Data.Animals : an open access journal from MDPI · 2024
    Article
  9. Article
  10. Article
  11. Article
  12. Article
  13. Nine-Gene Prognostic Signature Related to Gut Microflora for Predicting the Survival in Gastric Cancer Patients.The Turkish journal of gastroenterology : the official journal of Turkish Society of Gastroenterology · 2024
    Article
  14. Frontiers in medicine · 2024
    Article
  15. Article
  16. Article
  17. Review
  18. Article
  19. Intratumour microbiome of pancreatic cancer.World journal of gastrointestinal oncology · 2023
    Review
  20. Article

1 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.

4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

5 authors at 1 institution in 1 country.

Kelly M RobinsonInstitute for Genome Sciences, University of Maryland School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, USA.
Jonathan CrabtreeInstitute for Genome Sciences, University of Maryland School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, USA.
John S A MattickInstitute for Genome Sciences, University of Maryland School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, USA.
Kathleen E AndersonInstitute for Genome Sciences, University of Maryland School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, USA.
Julie C Dunning HotoppInstitute for Genome Sciences, University of Maryland School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, USA. jdhotopp@som.umaryland.edu.
University of Maryland, Baltimore · US

Funding

Extent and Significance of Bacterial DNA Integrations in the Human Cancer GenomeR01CA206188 · NCI · UNIVERSITY OF MARYLAND BALTIMORE · PI DUNNING HOTOPP, JULIE · 2015 to 2020
$3.6M
Impact of Bacterial-Animal Lateral Gene Transfer on Human HealthDP2OD007372 · OD · UNIVERSITY OF MARYLAND BALTIMORE · PI DUNNING HOTOPP, JULIE · 2010 to 2010
$2.3M
NCI NIH HHS R01 CA206188NIH HHS DP2 OD007372
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

backgroundA variety of bacteria are known to influence carcinogenesis. Therefore, we sought to investigate if publicly available whole genome and whole transcriptome sequencing data generated by large public cancer genome efforts, like The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA), could be used to identify bacteria associated with cancer. The Burrows-Wheeler aligner (BWA) was used to align a subset of Illumina paired-end sequencing data from TCGA to the human reference genome and all complete bacterial genomes in the RefSeq database in an effort to identify bacterial read pairs from the microbiome.

resultsThrough careful consideration of all of the bacterial taxa present in the cancer types investigated, their relative abundance, and batch effects, we were able to identify some read pairs from certain taxa as likely resulting from contamination. In particular, the presence of Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex in the ovarian serous cystadenocarcinoma (OV) and glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) samples was correlated with the sequencing center of the samples. Additionally, there was a correlation between the presence of Ralstonia spp. and two specific plates of acute myeloid leukemia (AML) samples. At the end, associations remained between Pseudomonas-like and Acinetobacter-like read pairs in AML, and Pseudomonas-like read pairs in stomach adenocarcinoma (STAD) that could not be explained through batch effects or systematic contamination as seen in other samples.

conclusionsThis approach suggests that it is possible to identify bacteria that may be present in human tumor samples from public genome sequencing data that can be examined further experimentally. More weight should be given to this approach in the future when bacterial associations with diseases are suspected.

Indexed as

Databases, GeneticGenome, BacterialGenome, HumanMicrobiotaAcinetobacterBacteriaBase SequenceCarcinomaCarcinoma, Ovarian EpithelialChromosome MappingCystadenocarcinoma, SerousGlioblastomaHigh-Throughput Nucleotide SequencingHumansLeukemia, Myeloid, AcuteMycobacterium tuberculosisAcinetobacterAcute myeloid leukemiaBatch effectsCancerCancer-associated bacteriaGenome sequencingMicrobiomePseudomonasStomach adenocarcinoma

Identifiers

PMID28118849
PMCPMC5264480
OpenAlexW2580757775

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.