# Variations of Tongue Coating Microbiota in Patients with Gastric Cancer

## TL;DR

This study finds that tongue coating thickness and its microbial composition differ between gastric cancer patients and healthy individuals, suggesting potential diagnostic value.

## Contribution

The study introduces tongue coating microbiota as a novel potential biomarker for gastric cancer diagnosis.

## Key findings

- Gastric cancer patients had significantly thicker tongue coatings than healthy controls.
- Thick tongue coatings showed lower microbial diversity compared to thin coatings.
- Tongue coating bacterial communities correlate with coating appearance and may aid in diagnosing gastric cancer.

## Abstract

The physical status of humans can be estimated by observing the appearance of the tongue coating, known as tongue diagnosis. The goals of this study were to reveal the relationship between tongue coating appearance and the oral microbiota in patients with gastric cancer and to open a novel research direction supporting tongue diagnosis. We used a tongue manifestation acquisition instrument to analyse the thickness of the tongue coating of patients with gastric cancer and that of healthy controls, and high-throughput sequencing was used to describe the microbial community of the tongue coating by sequencing the V2–V4 region of the 16S rDNA. The tongue coatings of 74 patients with gastric cancer were significantly thicker than those of 72 healthy controls (343.11 ± 198.22 versus 98.42 ± 48.25, P < 0.001); 51.35% of the patients were assessed as having thick tongue coatings, whereas all healthy controls were assessed as having thin tongue coatings. Thick tongue coatings presented lower microbial community diversity than thin tongue coatings. The tongue coating bacterial community is associated with the appearance of the tongue coating. The tongue coating may be a potential source for diagnosing gastric cancer, but its sensitivity needs to be further improved.