The role of the human microbiome in GI disease is an area of significant clinical and academic interest. The microbiome may well influence a number of GI diseases ranging from cancer,1 2 to IBD,3 4 to liver disease.5 6 One of the current challenges faced by microbiome researchers is the variance in terminology, methodological approaches and lack of consistency regarding outcomes. This is an issue that is not unique to this area and reflects rapid evolution of a particular research field. While attempts have been made to standardise the reporting of human microbiome research, for example, using the STORMS (Strengthening The Organization and Reporting of Microbiome Studies) checklist,7 such tools are yet to be widely adopted, leading to inconsistencies that affect the reproducibility of results. By using examples related to colorectal neoplasia, we seek to discuss some of the challenges faced and propose a harmonised approach to this type of research. While this article focuses primarily on the faecal microbiome, it should be noted that similar issues are found in microbiome work using other sample types, such as saliva/mouth wash or intestinal mucosa. A major limitation in the current body of literature is the heterogeneity of study methods. This issue was identified in a systematic review of microbial markers for risk prediction of colorectal neoplasia published in 2022 by Yu et al .8 Here, the authors reported that extensive heterogeneity between studies prevented quantitative meta-analysis. The authors recommended the development of standardised study protocols for future microbiome research, but this has not yet happened. It has been demonstrated that study methods can affect microbial community structure and therefore have the …

中文翻译：

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需要以结直肠肿瘤研究为例进行人类微生物组研究的标准化方法


人类微生物组在胃肠道疾病中的作用是一个具有重要临床和学术兴趣的领域。微生物组很可能会影响许多胃肠道疾病，从癌症1 2到IBD，3 4到肝病5 6。微生物组研究人员当前面临的挑战之一是术语、方法的差异以及结果缺乏一致性。这个问题并非该领域所独有，它反映了特定研究领域的快速发展。虽然已经尝试将人类微生物组研究的报告标准化，例如使用 STORMS（加强微生物组研究的组织和报告）清单，7 但此类工具尚未得到广泛采用，导致不一致，从而影响结果的可重复性。通过使用与结直肠瘤变相关的例子，我们试图讨论面临的一些挑战，并为此类研究提出一种协调的方法。虽然本文主要关注粪便微生物组，但应该注意的是，在使用其他样本类型（如唾液/漱口水或肠粘膜）的微生物组工作中也发现了类似的问题。当前文献的一个主要限制是研究方法的异质性。这个问题是在 Yu 等人于 2022 年发表的用于结直肠肿瘤风险预测的微生物标志物的系统评价中发现的。8 在这里，作者报告说，研究之间的广泛异质性阻碍了定量荟萃分析。作者建议为未来的微生物组研究制定标准化的研究方案，但这尚未发生。已经证明，研究方法可以影响微生物群落结构，因此具有...