Fecal Microbiota Taxonomic Shifts in Chinese Multiple Myeloma Patients Analyzed by Quantitative Polimerase Chain Reaction (QPCR) and 16S rRNA High-Throughput SequencingOriginal paper
Karen Pendergrass is a microbiome researcher specializing in microbiome-targeted interventions (MBTIs). She systematically analyzes scientific literature to identify microbial patterns, develop hypotheses, and validate interventions. As the founder of the Microbiome Signatures Database, she bridges microbiome research with clinical practice. In 2012, based on her own investigative research, she became the first documented case of FMT for Celiac Disease, four years before the first published case study.
Read MoreWhat was studied?
Researchers compared the fecal microbial community of 40 multiple myeloma (MM) patients against 17 healthy controls at the First Affiliated Hospital of Sun Yat-sen University.
How was it studied?
Fecal samples underwent 16S rRNA high-throughput sequencing for diversity and correlation analysis. A subset of 21 MM patients and their family members were matched-pair analyzed by qRT-PCR to confirm taxonomic shifts.
What did they find?
Shannon diversity was lower in MM patients. Proteobacteria was higher and Actinobacteria lower at the phylum level in MM patients. Bacteroides, Faecalibacterium, and Roseburia were higher at the genus level. Matched-pair PCR confirmed Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Faecalibacterium were more abundant in MM patients, and Faecalibacterium prausnitzii level correlated with ISS stage.
Why it matters
The findings suggest gut microbiome imbalance in MM patients could serve as a biomarker for risk screening, therapeutic strategy, and prognosis.