Faecal Microbiota Composition Varies between Patients with Breast Cancer and Healthy Women: A Comparative Case-Control Study.

The intestinal microbiota plays an essential role in many diseases, such as obesity, irritable bowel disease (IBD), and cancer. This study aimed to characterize the faecal microbiota from early-stage breast cancer (BC) patients and healthy controls. Faeces from newly diagnosed breast cancer patients, mainly for an invasive carcinoma of no specific type (HR+ and HER2-), before any therapeutic treatment and healthy controls were collected for metabarcoding analyses. We show that the Shannon index, used as an index of diversity, was statistically lower in the BC group compared to that of controls. This work highlights a reduction of microbial diversity, a relative enrichment in Firmicutes, as well as a depletion in Bacteroidetes in patients diagnosed with early BC compared to those of healthy women. A tendency towards a decreased relative abundance of Odoribacter sp., Butyricimonas sp., and Coprococcus sp. was observed. This preliminary study suggests that breast cancer patients may differ from healthy subjects in their intestinal bacterial composition.

Degradation and changes in toxicity and biodegradability of tetracycline during ozone/ultraviolet-based advanced oxidation.

Advanced oxidation processes (AOPs) composed of O3, H2O2 and ultraviolet (UV) were applied to degrade tetracycline (TC). Degradation efficiency was evaluated in terms of changes in absorbance (ABS) and total organic carbon (TOC). The change in biotoxicity was monitored with Escherichia coli and Vibrio fischeri. The improvement in biodegradability during oxidation was demonstrated through 5-day biochemical oxygen demand/chemical oxygen demand ratio and aerobic biological treatment. The combination of O3/H2O2/UV and O3/UV showed the best performance for the reductions in ABS and TOC. However, mineralization and detoxification were not perfect under the experimental conditions that were used in this study. Therefore, for the ultimate treatment of TC compounds, it is suggested that AOP treatment is followed by biological treatment, utilizing enhanced biodegradability. In this study, aerobic biological treatment by Pseudomonas putida was performed for O3/UV-treated TC. It was confirmed that O3/UV treatment improved TOC reduction and facilitated complete mineralization in biological treatment.