Urinary microbiota diversity and composition in patients with advanced renal cell cancer

Objectives: This study aims to investigate the role of urinary microbiota in renal cell carcinoma; we analysed urinary microbiota in kidney cancer patients and explored its potential role as biomarker. Subjects and methods: Samples were collected from 49 males (28 patients planned to undergo systemic therapy and 21 healthy volunteers). Two samples were collected from each patient, one prior to treatment and one after 8 to 12 weeks of systemic therapy. Microbiota was analysed by 16S rRNA sequencing. Microbiota diversity, taxonomic composition and relative abundance were compared between groups and longitudinal samples. Results: = 0.043) but not of treatment response. Conclusions: Urinary microbiota in patients with renal cell carcinoma differed from controls. Changes in microbiota composition were observed after systemic treatment. Urinary microbiota should be further investigated as a potential biomarker in renal cell carcinoma.