FIGURE 3.

LEfSe histograms of differential features in head and neck cancer patients. (A) Grp-All BPST. (B) Grp-noAB BPST. Linear discriminant analysis Effect Size (LEfSe) was performed to determine distinct microbiome features in oral samples [stimulated saliva (S) samples and swabs of buccal mucosa (B), supragingival plaque (P), and tongue (T)] of the following: (A) Grp-All patient cohort (N = 23) for the head and neck cancer (HNC) HPV-positive (HPV+; N = 16) vs. HPV-negative (HPV–; N = 7) comparisons. (B) Grp-noAB patient cohort (N = 15) for HNC HPV+ (N = 12) vs. HPV– (N = 3) that did not receive antibiotics within 2 weeks of sampling. Horizontal histograms depict the discriminant features, i.e., bacterial species, for Grp-All and Grp-noAB potential biomarkers for HPV+ (red) and HPV– (blue). Mann–Whitney U-tests were used to determine significance of HPV+ distinctive species. Level of significance is depicted by an asterisk (*): *p < 0.05; **p < 0.01; ***p < 0.001.