Offensive overselling of the #microbiome in breast cancer from the Cleveland Clinic

This is just sickening to me.

I saw a news story that smelled funny:  Breast cancer: Bacterial deficiency linked with onset. And I went and found the scientific paper and then the press release from the Cleveland Clinic that the news story seemed based on.  And, well, the press release turns out to be ridiculous.

The paper showed something somewhat interesting but very limited.  Here is the abstract with key parts bolded and underlined by me

It has long been proposed that the gut microbiome contributes to breast carcinogenesis by modifying systemic estrogen levels. This is often cited as a possible mechanism linking breast cancer and high-fat, low-fiber diets as well as antibiotic exposure, associations previously identified in population-based studies. More recently, a distinct microbiome has been identified within breast milk and tissue, but few studies have characterized differences in the breast tissue microbiota of patients with and without cancer, and none have investigated distant body-site microbiomes outside of the gut. We hypothesize that cancerous breast tissue is associated with a microbiomic profile distinct from that of benign breast tissue, and that microbiomes of more distant sites, the oral cavity and urinary tract, will reflect dysbiosis as well. Fifty-seven women with invasive breast cancer undergoing mastectomy and 21 healthy women undergoing cosmetic breast surgery were enrolled. The bacterial 16S rRNA gene was amplified from urine, oral rinse and surgically collected breast tissue, sequenced, and processed through a QIIME-based bioinformatics pipeline. Cancer patient breast tissue microbiomes clustered significantly differently from non-cancer patients (p=0.03), largely driven by decreased relative abundance of Methylobacterium in cancer patients (median 0.10 vs. 0.24, p=0.03). There were no significant differences in oral rinse samples. Differences in urinary microbiomes were largely explained by menopausal status, with peri/postmenopausal women showing decreased levels of Lactobacillus. Independent of menopausal status, however, cancer patients had increased levels of gram-positive organisms including Corynebacterium (p<0.01), Staphylococcus (p=0.02), Actinomyces (p<0.01), and Propionibacteriaceae (p<0.01). Our observations suggest that the local breast microbiota differ in patients with and without breast cancer. Cancer patient urinary microbiomes were characterized by increased levels of gram-positive organisms in this study, but need to be further studied in larger cohorts.

That is it.  Barely significant finding of some clustering of the microbiomes of breast cancer patients versus those of patients without breast cancer.  And yet, this turned in the press release into cancer causing bacteria that they will be fighting with nanotechnology.  Seriously.

The press release title and subtitle is semi OK:

Cleveland Clinic Researchers Find Link Between Bacterial Imbalances and Breast Cancer. Study compares bacterial composition in healthy vs. cancerous breast tissue

But it goes way way way downhill from there.  Here are the parts with problems

•  In our wildest dreams, we hope we can use microbiomics right before breast cancer forms and then prevent cancer with probiotics or antibiotics
• Sure, in my wildest dreams I would cure cancer too.  
• In addition to the Methylobacterium finding, the team discovered that cancer patients’ urine samples had increased levels of gram-positive bacteria, including Staphylococcus and Actinomyces. Further studies are needed to determine the role these organisms may play in breast cancer.
• Umm.  No. Further studies are needed to see if these organisms play ANY role of any kind in breast cancer.
• Co-senior author Stephen Grobymer, M.D., said, “If we can target specific pro-cancer bacteria, we may be able to make the environment less hospitable to cancer and enhance existing treatments. Larger studies are needed but this work is a solid first step in better understanding the significant role of bacterial imbalances in breast cancer.
• Noooooooooooooooooooooooooooo.  You have not shown anywhere that there are "pro cancer" bacteria and this quote clearly implies that you have. 
• The study provides proof-of-principle evidence to support further research into the creation and utilization of loaded submicroscopic particles (nanoparticles), targeting these pro-cancer bacteria. 
• What?  This study does not provide ANY proof of principle of this sort.  You have not shown there are any pro-cancer bacteria.  This is ridiculous and offensive.  

No wonder the news stories imply that this study is about preventing breast cancer.  The press release from the Cleveland Clinic is deceptive.  It makes claims about the work that are irresponsible, misleading, and potentially dangerous. The Cleveland Clinic should be ashamed.

And thus the Cleveland Clinic is the winner of this edition of the Overselling the Microbiome Award.


UPDATE 10/16/17

And so the deceptive PR from Cleveland Clinic is now leading to claims of "Antibiotics May Prevent Breast Cancer" See

Deceptive PR from @ClevelandClinic https://t.co/b9IDgeRsfK on breast cancer-microbiome leads to stuff like this: https://t.co/jqBNMMzChL 1/n pic.twitter.com/u9LxdujnVm

— Jonathan Eisen (@phylogenomics) October 16, 2017

In this "news" article, based on PR from @ClevelandClinic there is a statement that "antibiotics may prevent breast cancer" 2/n pic.twitter.com/yP8AcSuexn

— Jonathan Eisen (@phylogenomics) October 16, 2017

Straight line from misleading PR of @ClevelandClinic "targeting these pro-cancer bacteria" to "antibiotics may prevent breast cancer" 3/n

— Jonathan Eisen (@phylogenomics) October 16, 2017