Evidence map›Paper›PMID 37811944›Full record

ArticlemBio2023

Major data analysis errors invalidate cancer microbiome findings.

Abraham Gihawi, Yuchen Ge, Jennifer Lu, Daniela Puiu, Amanda Xu, Colin S Cooper, Daniel S Brewer, Mihaela Pertea, Steven L Salzberg

Open access · goldAbstract read
PubMed Full text at PMC Publisher
In one paragraph

Article in mBio, 2023. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 161 papers, 4 of them syntheses that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
161citing papers in PubMed, 4 pooled it
28.0field-weighted citation impact, top 1% 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

161 citing papers in PubMed, 4 syntheses or guidelines pooled it, 180 citations in OpenAlex.

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  17. The multi-omics fallacy in microbiome science.PLoS computational biology · 2026
    Article
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  20. Article

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

4 · The record

Corrections and comments

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

9 authors at 2 institutions in 2 countries.

Abraham Gihawi *Norwich Medical School, University of East Anglia , Norwich, United Kingdom.
Yuchen Ge *Center for Computational Biology, Johns Hopkins University , Baltimore, Maryland, USA.
Jennifer Lu *Center for Computational Biology, Johns Hopkins University , Baltimore, Maryland, USA.
Daniela PuiuCenter for Computational Biology, Johns Hopkins University , Baltimore, Maryland, USA.
Amanda XuCenter for Computational Biology, Johns Hopkins University , Baltimore, Maryland, USA.
Colin S CooperNorwich Medical School, University of East Anglia , Norwich, United Kingdom.
Daniel S BrewerNorwich Medical School, University of East Anglia , Norwich, United Kingdom.
Mihaela PerteaCenter for Computational Biology, Johns Hopkins University , Baltimore, Maryland, USA.
Steven L SalzbergCenter for Computational Biology, Johns Hopkins University , Baltimore, Maryland, USA.ORCID 0000-0002-8859-7432
Johns Hopkins University · USUniversity of East Anglia · GB

Funding

Computational Methods for Genome Assembly, Transcript Assembly, and Variant DiscoveryR01HG006677 · NHGRI · JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY · PI SALZBERG, STEVEN L. · 2011 to 2025
$10.7M
Computational Methods for Microbial and Microbiome Sequence AnalysisR35GM130151 · NIGMS · JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY · PI Steven L. Salzberg · 2019 to 2026
$2.9M
Cancer Research UKNHGRI NIH HHS R01 HG006677NIGMS NIH HHS R35 GM130151
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

importanceRecent reports showing that human cancers have a distinctive microbiome have led to a flurry of papers describing microbial signatures of different cancer types. Many of these reports are based on flawed data that, upon re-analysis, completely overturns the original findings. The re-analysis conducted here shows that most of the microbes originally reported as associated with cancer were not present at all in the samples. The original report of a cancer microbiome and more than a dozen follow-up studies are, therefore, likely to be invalid.

Indexed as

MicrobiotaNeoplasmsComputational BiologyData AnalysisHumansMetagenomicsbioinformaticscancercomputational biologymetagenomicsmicrobiome

Identifiers

PMID37811944
PMCPMC10653788
OpenAlexW4387440002

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.