Gynecologic Oncology Patients have Urobiomes that are Similar to Women Without Gynecologic Cancer.

INTRODUCTION AND HYPOTHESIS: To compare the bladder microbiomes of participants with and without a gynecological cancer at the time of diagnostic surgery to determine their suitability as control participants in urobiome research studies.

METHODS

IRB-approved clinical sample of continent adult female patients undergoing surgery for suspected gynecologic malignancy. Participants contributed clinical data (abstracted from the electronic medical record), and a catheterized urine sample obtained prior to antibiotic administration on the day of surgery. The study urine sample underwent DNA sequencing following amplification of hyper-variable region 4 (V4) of the bacterial 16S rRNA gene. The sequences were processed, annotated, and decontaminated. Alpha (within-sample) and beta (between-sample) diversity indices were computed, and the microbiome compositions across all participants were compared.

RESULTS

Ninety-two women participated, including 20 with a gynecological cancer diagnosis and a comparison group of 72 without gynecologic cancer detected. The mean age was 53 years old (range 22-92) with a mean BMI of 31 kg/m2 (26-38 kg/m2); the majority (62%) were White. We observed no significant difference in the bladder microbiomes of the group with a cancer diagnosis and the controls.

CONCLUSIONS

Participants with a gynecological cancer diagnosis can be used as controls for bladder microbiome studies.