Despite substantial heterogeneity of studies, there is evidence that antibiotics commonly used in primary care influence the composition of the gastrointestinal microbiota in terms of changing their composition and/or diversity. Benzyl isothiocyanate (BITC) from the food and medicinal plant nasturtium (Tropaeolum majus) is known for its antimicrobial activity and is used for the treatment of infections of the draining urinary tract and upper respiratory tract. Against this background, we raised the question of whether a 14 d nasturtium intervention (3 g daily, N = 30 healthy females) could also impact the normal gut microbiota composition. Spot urinary BITC excretion highly correlated with a weak but significant antibacterial effect against Escherichia coli. A significant increase in human beta defensin 1 as a parameter for host defense was seen in urine and exhaled breath condensate (EBC) upon verum intervention. Pre-to-post analysis revealed that mean gut microbiome composition did not significantly differ between groups, nor did the circulating serum metabolome. On an individual level, some large changes were observed between sampling points, however. Explorative Spearman rank correlation analysis in subgroups revealed associations between gut microbiota and the circulating metabolome, as well as between changes in blood markers and bacterial gut species.

Ovarian carcinoma is a gynecological cancer with poor long-term survival rates when detected at advanced disease stages. Early symptoms are non-specific, and currently, there are no adequate strategies to identify this disease at an early stage when much higher survival rates can be expected. Ovarian carcinoma is a heterogeneous disease, with various histotypes originating from different cells and tissues, and is characterized by distinct somatic mutations, progression profiles, and treatment responses. Our study presents a targeted metabolomics approach, characterizing seven different ovarian (cancer-) cell lines according to their extracellular, intracellular, and RNA-derived modified nucleoside profiles. Moreover, these data were correlated with transcriptomics data to elucidate the underlying mechanisms. Modified nucleosides are excreted in higher amounts in cancer cell lines due to their altered DNA/RNA metabolism. This study shows that seven different ovarian cancer cell lines, representing different molecular subtypes, can be discriminated according to their specific nucleoside pattern. We suggest modified nucleosides as strong biomarker candidates for ovarian cancer with the potential for subtype-specific discrimination. Extracellular modified nucleosides have the highest potential in the distinguishing of cell lines between control cell lines and themselves, and represent the closest to a desirable, non-invasive biomarker, since they accumulate in blood and urine.

Despite substantial heterogeneity of studies, there is evidence that antibiotics commonly used in primary care influence the composition of the gastrointestinal microbiota in terms of changing the composition and/or diversity. Benzyl isothiocyanate (BITC) from the food and medicinal plant nasturtium (Tropaeolum majus) is known for its antimicrobial activity and is used for the treatment against infections of the draining urinary tract and upper respiratory tract. Against this background, we raised the question whether 14 d nasturtium intervention (3 g daily, N=30 healthy females) could also impact the normal gut microbiota composition. Spot urinary BITC excretion highly correlated with a weak, but significant antibacterial effect against Escherichia coli. A significant increase in human beta defensin 1 as parameter for host defense was seen in urine and exhaled breath condensate (EBC) upon verum intervention. Pre-to-post analysis revealed that mean gut microbiome composition did not significantly differ between groups, nor did circulating serum metabolome. On an individual level, partly large changes were observed between sampling points, though. Explorative Spearman rank correlation analysis in subgroups revealed associations between gut microbiota and the circulating metabolome, as well as between changes in blood markers and bacterial gut species.

Dhairya Rajguru was not included as an author in the original publication