| Objective: To investigate the relationship between lung nodules and gut microbiota, offering new perspectives for the clinical diagnosis of lung nodules. Methods: A prospective clinical observational study was conducted on lung nodule patients diagnosed and analyzed for the malignancy degree and related gut microbiota from January 1, 2022, to December 31, 2022, at the Oncology Department and Thoracic Surgery Department of Beijing University of Chinese Medicine.Results: A total of 54 participants were included, categorized into 24 cases of low-risk lung nodule group, 16 cases of high-risk lung nodule group, and 14 cases of lung cancer group. The Sob’s index and Rank-Abundance curves indicated that the gut microbiota of the three groups were rich and uniform, but the lung cancer group showed relatively lower diversity compared to the other two groups. The dominant bacterial genera in the gut microbiota were the same across nodules of different natures, but their relative abundances varied. The proportions of Faecalibacterium and Bifidobacterium decreased with the increased malignancy of lung nodules, while the proportions of Blautia and Bacteroides increased. The Kruskal-Wallis test revealed significant differences at the genus level of gut microbiota among the three groups (P<0.05), and the Student’s t-test for pairwise comparisons showed that there were differences at the genus level of gut microbiota corresponding to different malignancy degrees of lung nodules (P<0.05).Conclusion: Gut microbiota differ with varying degrees of lung nodule malignancy, which can serve as an objective biological basis to assist in the diagnosis of the nature of lung nodules. |
