Altered microbiota of rectal mucosa in rectal cancer patients

Figure 1 Culture results of mucosal samples between groups. A: Escherichia coli; B: Enterococcus; C: Bifidobacterium; D: Lactobacillus. The data are presented as the mean ± SD and were analyzed via the Kruskal-Wallis test. ^aP < 0.05, ^cP < 0.001. AM: Adjacent noncancerous mucosa; CM: Rectal cancer mucosa; NM: Normal control mucosa; CFU: Colony-forming unit.

Figure 2 Numbers of each population at each level. A: Phylum; B: Class; C: Order; D: Family; E: Genus; F: Species. The data were analyzed via the Kruskal-Wallis test. ^aP < 0.05, ^bP < 0.01. AM: Adjacent noncancerous mucosa; CM: Rectal cancer mucosa; NM: Normal control mucosa.

Figure 3 Diversity indices between groups. A: Ace; B: Chao; C: Simpson; D: Shannon; E: Principal coordinates analysis. ^aP < 0.05, ^bP < 0.01. AM: Adjacent noncancerous mucosa; CM: Rectal cancer mucosa; NM: Normal control mucosa; NS: Not significant.

Figure 4 LEfSe analysis across different taxonomic levels. A: Bacterial composition in each group; B: Phylum; C: Class; D: Order; E: Family; F: Genus; G: Relative abundance of Bifidobacterium; H: Relative abundance of Enterococcus; I: Relative abundance of Lactobacillus. ^aP < 0.05, ^bP < 0.01. AM: Adjacent noncancerous mucosa; CM: Rectal cancer mucosa; NM: Normal control mucosa; NS: Not significant.

Figure 5 Differences in ratios between rectal cancer patients and healthy controls. A: Prevotella/Ruminococcus ratio in both sexes; B: Prevotella/Ruminococcus ratio in females; C: Prevotella/Ruminococcus ratio in males; D: Prevotella stercorea (P. stercorea)/Propionibacterium acnes (P. acnes) ratio in both sexes; E: P. stercorea/P. acnes ratio in females; F: P. stercorea/P. acnes ratio in males; G: Receiver operating curve (ROC) curves of two ratios in both sexes between the adjacent noncancerous mucosa (AM) and normal control mucosa (NM); H: ROC curves of two ratios in females between the AM and NM; I: ROC curves of two ratios in males between the AM and NM; J: ROC curves of two ratios in both sexes between the rectal cancer mucosa (CM) and NM; K: ROC curves of two ratios in females between the CM and NM; L: ROC curves of two ratios in males between the CM and NM. ^bP < 0.01. AM: Adjacent noncancerous mucosa; CM: Rectal cancer mucosa; NM: Normal control mucosa; NS: Not significant.