Omnigene-Gut in the pediatric population
Increasing evidence exists that the gut microbiome influences toxicity as well as outcomes in a variety of cancers. To investigate the role of the gut microbiome in pediatric neuro-oncology, microbiome analysis has been included in multiple prospective pediatric neuro-oncology clinical trials (NCT05009992, NCT04732065, NCT04775485). In these trials, the OMNIgene-GUTtm preservation tubes are used for the collection of the feces. OMNIgene-GUTtm has demonstrated reliability in preserving the composition of the gut microbiome in adults; however, its validation for use in the pediatric population remains limited. Therefore, we compared the quality of the DNA by 16s rRNA gene sequencing after various methods of stabilizing fecal samples in pediatric populations, from the direct freeze method at -80°C to preserving samples with OMNIgene-GUTtm at room temperature for various durations. Our results showed that there were no statistically significant differences between the alpha-diversity, beta-diversity, and differential abundance analyses across all sample preservation methods. With the OMNIgene-GUTtm's stabilization of the fecal samples being comparable to the direct freeze method, alongside its other ease-of-use benefits, it proves to be a valid and ideal method of stabilizing fecal samples for current and future pediatric clinical trials.