Usability of rectal swabs for microbiome sampling in a cohort study of hematological and oncological patients.

ABSTRACT:

Objectives

Large-scale clinical studies investigating associations between intestinal microbiota signatures and human diseases usually rely on stool samples. However, the timing of repeated stool sample collection cannot be predefined in longitudinal settings. Rectal swabs, being straightforward to obtain, have the potential to overcome this drawback. Therefore, we assessed the usability of rectal swabs for microbiome sampling in a cohort of hematological and oncological patients.

Study design

We used a pipeline for intestinal microbiota analysis from deep rectal swabs which was established and validated with test samples and negative controls. Consecutively, a cohort of patients from hematology and oncology wards was established and weekly deep rectal swabs taken during the

SUBMITTER: Biehl LM 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC6464231 | biostudies-literature | 2019

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature