Integrated landscape of metagenome and metabolome characterizes a microbial-metabolic axis in the progression of upper gastrointestinal cancer
Upper gastrointestinal cancer (UGIC) imposes a significant global health burden with limited non-invasive tools for early detection. We aimed to delineate the stage-specific molecular landscapes of the microbiome-metabolome axis and identify multi-omics signatures for the early diagnosis of UGIC and its precancerous lesions. Nested within a population-based screening cohort of 20,544 participants, we included 420 propensity score-matched participants, stratified into Normal, low-grade intraepithelial neoplasia (LGIN), high-grade intraepithelial neoplasia (HGIN), and UGIC groups (n=105 per group). The study performed salivary metagenomics alongside salivary and plasma metabolomics sequencing.