Integrated network-diversity analyses suggest suppressive effect of Hodgkin’s lymphoma and slightly relieving effect of chemotherapy on human milk microbiome

We aim to investigate the effects of Hodgkin’s lymphoma and the chemotherapy for treating the disease on the human milk microbiome through integrated network and community diversity analyses. Our analyses suggest that Hodgkin’s lymphoma seems to have a suppressing effect on the milk microbiome by lowering the milk microbial community diversity, as measured by the Hill numbers profiles. Although the diversity analysis did not reveal an effect of chemotherapy on community diversity, bacterial species interaction network analysis shows that chemotherapy may help to slightly restore the milk microbiome impacted by Hodgkin’s lymphoma through its influence on the interactions among species (or OTUs). We further constructed diversity-metabolites network, which suggests that the milk microbial diversity is positively correlated with some beneficial milk metabolites such as DHA (DocosaHexaenoic Acid), and that the diversity is negatively correlated with some potentially harmful metabolites such as Butanal. We hence postulate that higher milk microbial diversity should be a signature of healthy mothers and beneficial to infants. Finally, we constructed metabolites OTU correlation networks, from which we identified some special OTUs. These OTUs deserve further investigations given their apparent involvements in regulating the levels of critical milk metabolites such as DHA, Inositol and Butanal.