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. 2021 Nov 4;11(11):758. doi: 10.3390/metabo11110758

Table 1.

Summary of studies investigating the alteration of breast tissue microbiome in breast cancer.

Sample Type and Size Method Variable Region Changes to the Microbiome Ref.
Healthy Benign Cancer Adjacent Healthy Patients Cancer Patients Adjacent
20 20 NGS V4 Methylobacterium radiotolerans Sphingomonas yanoikuyae [2]
24 17 22 NGS V3–V4 Methylobacterium [34]
23 13 45 NGS V6 Prevotella, Lactococcus, Streptococcus, Corynebacterium, and Micrococcus Bacillus, Staphylococcus, Enterobacteriaceae, Comamondaceae, and Bacteroidetes. [20]
668 72 NGS V3–V5 Mycobacterium fortuitum and Mycobacterium phlei [46]
5, Canadians 11 27 NGS V6 The most abundant taxa in the Canadian samples were: Bacillus (11.4%), Acinetobacter (10.0%), Enterobacteriaceae (8.3%), Pseudomonas (6.5%), Staphylococcus (6.5%), Propionibacterium (5.8%), Comamonadaceae (5.7%), Gammaproteobacteria (5.0%), and Prevotella (5.0%). [48]
5, Irish 33 The most abundant taxa in the Irish samples were: Enterobacteriaceae (30.8%), Staphylococcus (12.7%), Listeria welshimeri (12.1%), Propionibacterium (10.1%), and Pseudomonas (5.3%).
Escherichia coli
[48]
20 50, BRER
34, BRHR
24, BRTP
40, BRTN
PathChip array Unique and common microbial signatures in the major breast cancer types are summarized in Table 1 in (51)
All four breast cancer types had dominant signatures for Proteobacteria followed by Firmicutes.
Actinomyces signatures were also detected in each breast cancer types.
[49]
9, CNB
7, SEB
3, Both
9, CNB
7, SEB
3, Both
NGS V2–V4
V6–V9
Proteobacteria are the most abundant phylum followed by Firmicutes, Actinobacteria, and Bacteroidetes.
The presence of the genus Ralstonia is associated with breast tissue.
The relative abundance of Methylobacterium was different in certain patients.
[45]

NGS: Next-generation sequencing, qPCR: quantitative Polymerase chain reaction, BRER: endocrine receptor (estrogen or progesterone receptor) positive, BRHR: human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2) positive, BRTP: triple positive (estrogen, progesterone, and HER2 receptor-positive), BRTN: triple-negative (absence of estrogen, progesterone, and HER2 receptors), CNBs: core needle biopsies, SEBs: surgical excision biopsies. Up and down arrows refer to up- and down-regulated bacteria, respectively.