Biliary Microbiome Altered After Neoadjuvant Therapy for Pancreatic Cancer

According to Reddy, pancreatic tumors will often compress the bile ducts, obstructing bile from flowing freely. Undergoing a biliary stent procedure can alleviate the compression, allowing bile to properly drain.
According to Reddy, pancreatic tumors will often compress the bile ducts, obstructing bile from flowing freely. Undergoing a biliary stent procedure can alleviate the compression, allowing bile to properly drain.

PHILADELPHIA (July 5, 2019) — The biliary microbiome — the collection of bacteria present in the bile ducts — was altered in patients who received neoadjuvant therapy prior to undergoing surgery for pancreatic cancer, according to new research from Fox Chase Cancer Center.

Additionally, more bacteria in patients who underwent surgery after neoadjuvant therapy were resistant to cephalosporins, a form of broad spectrum antibiotics, compared with patients who were treated with surgery alone.

“This study shows that proper antibiotic prophylaxis in this patient population is important,” said study researcher Sanjay Reddy, MD, FACS, assistant professor of the Department of Surgical Oncology at Fox Chase. “Right now, the reflex is often to just use antibiotic ‘X’ as prophylaxis, but the study shows that is it important to know which antibiotics work and which do not.”

According to Reddy, pancreatic tumors will often compress the bile ducts, obstructing bile from flowing freely. Undergoing a biliary stent procedure can alleviate the compression, allowing bile to properly drain.

“We hypothesized that the environment the pancreatic cancer sits in – its microbiome – is affected by preoperative stenting and exposure to antibiotics,” Reddy said. “Manipulation of the biliary tract through stenting – more commonly used with neoadjuvant treatment -- alters the biome, by allowing intestinal bacteria to enter the biliary system. Exposure to multiple courses of antibiotics leads to more resistant organism in the biliary flora.”

To explore this issue further, Reddy and colleagues studied patients who underwent pancreatoduodenectomy from 2007 to 2017 at Fox Chase. Eighty-three patients received neoadjuvant therapy – chemotherapy or chemoradiation – and 89 underwent surgery alone. All patients had operative bile samples taken and analyzed.

Patients who had neoadjuvant therapy were about twice as likely to have two forms of bacteria in their bile: Enterococci (22 percent vs. 45 percent) and Klebsiella (19 percent vs. 37 percent). In addition, patients treated with neoadjuvant therapy were significantly more likely to have resistance to cephalosporins compared with patients who had surgery alone.

Despite these differences, no difference in the incidence of surgical site infections or clinically-relevant postoperative pancreatic fistulas occurred between the two study groups.

“This showed that the biliary microbiome is altered with neoadjuvant treatments and biliary stenting Reddy said. “Prophylactic antibiotics given at the time of surgery should be geared towards covering a broad spectrum of organisms to provide adequate coverage.

According to Reddy, it is currently unknown whether the length of exposure to the stent or what type of stent – plastic versus metal – might play a role.

“The benefit of metal stents are longevity, with those stents lasting for months,” Reddy said. “Plastic stents on the other hand have to be replaced more frequently, and can have more issues with occlusion.”

In the future, Reddy plans to study the biliary microbiome in relation to stent type and duration, and whether the stents that are changed more frequently are harboring more difficult-to-treat bacteria.

The paper, “Biliary microbiome in pancreatic cancer: alterations with neoadjuvant therapy” was published in the HPB.

Fox Chase Cancer Center (Fox Chase), which includes the Institute for Cancer Research and the American Oncologic Hospital and is a part of Temple Health, is one of the leading comprehensive cancer centers in the United States. Founded in 1904 in Philadelphia as one of the nation’s first cancer hospitals, Fox Chase was also among the first institutions to be designated a National Cancer Institute Comprehensive Cancer Center in 1974. Fox Chase is also one of just 10 members of the Alliance of Dedicated Cancer Centers. Fox Chase researchers have won the highest awards in their fields, including two Nobel Prizes. Fox Chase physicians are also routinely recognized in national rankings, and the Center’s nursing program has received the Magnet recognition for excellence six consecutive times. Today, Fox Chase conducts a broad array of nationally competitive basic, translational, and clinical research, with special programs in cancer prevention, detection, survivorship, and community outreach. It is the policy of Fox Chase Cancer Center that there shall be no exclusion from, or participation in, and no one denied the benefits of, the delivery of quality medical care on the basis of race, ethnicity, religion, sexual orientation, gender, gender identity/expression, disability, age, ancestry, color, national origin, physical ability, level of education, or source of payment.

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