Urinary microbiota – a potential biomarker and therapeutic target for bladder cancer

Purpose. To identify potential biomarkers and/or therapeutic targets for bladder cancer we characterized and analysed the composition of the urinary microbiota from bladder cancer and non-cancer patients. Methodology. In this study, we collected urine samples from 29 bladder cancer patients and 26 non-cancer patients. To avoid contamination and the impact of antibiotics, urine specimens were collected in a clean manner prior to antibiotic administration. Using the amplicon-based next-generation sequencing approach, the potential determinant bacteria were estimated in a between-group comparison. The results illustrated the differences in microbiota abundance among cancer and non-cancer patients and the overall number of cases carrying these bacteria. Results. We found that the urine samples contained a conserved microbiota with four phyla ( Firmicutes , Actinobacteria , Proteobacteria and Bacteroidetes ), which accounted for 94.4 % of bacteria in all cases. Comparing the microbiota between the bladder cancer and control group, five genera of bacteria ( Streptococcus , Bifidobacterium , Lactobacillus , Veillonella and Actinomyces ) existed in all samples, but with significant intergroup differences (P