Potential screening and early diagnosis method for cancer: Tongue diagnosis

Han,Shuwen; Yang,Xi; Qi,Quan; Pan,Yuefen; Chen,Yongchao; Shen,Junjun; Liao,Haihong; Ji,Zhaoning

doi:10.3892/ijo.2016.3466

Potential screening and early diagnosis method for cancer: Tongue diagnosis

Authors:
- Shuwen Han
- Xi Yang
- Quan Qi
- Yuefen Pan
- Yongchao Chen
- Junjun Shen
- Haihong Liao
- Zhaoning Ji
View Affiliations

Affiliations: Department of Medical Oncology, Huzhou Central Hospital, Huzhou, Zhejiang 313000, P.R. China, Department of Oncology, Wannan Medical College, Wuhu, Anhui 241000, P.R. China, The Cancer Center, Yijishan Hospital of Wannan Medical College, Wuhu, Anhui 241001, P.R. China
Published online on: March 31, 2016 https://doi.org/10.3892/ijo.2016.3466
Pages: 2257-2264
Copyright: © Han et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of Creative Commons Attribution License.

Metrics: Total Views: 0 (Spandidos Publications: | PMC Statistics: )

Metrics: Total PDF Downloads: 0 (Spandidos Publications: | PMC Statistics: )

Cited By (CrossRef): 0 citations Loading Articles...

Abstract

Tongue diagnosis, as a unique method of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM), was used to discriminate physiological functions and pathological conditions by observing the changes of the tongue and tongue coating. The aims of the present study were to explore a potential screening and early diagnosis method of cancer through evaluating the differences of the images of tongue and tongue coating and the microbiome on the tongue coating. The DS01-B tongue diagnostic information acquisition system was used to photograph and analyze the tongue and tongue coating. The next-generation sequencing technology was used to determine the V2-V4 hypervariable regions of 16S rDNA to investigate the microbiome on the tongue coating. Bioinformatics and statistical methods were used to analyze the microbial community structure and diversity. Comparing with the healthy people, the number of mirror-like tongue, thick tongue coating and the moisture of tongue were increased in cancers. The dominant color of the tongue in the healthy people was reddish while it was purple in the cancers. The relative abundance of Neisseria, Haemophilus, Fusobacterium and Porphyromonas in the healthy people were higher than that in the cancers. We also found 6 kinds of special microorganisms at species level in cancers. The study suggested that tongue diagnosis may provide potential screening and early diagnosis method for cancer.

View Figures

View References

1	Han S, Chen Y, Hu J and Ji Z: Tongue images and tongue coating microbiome in patients with colorectal cancer. Microb Pathog. 77:1–6. 2014. View Article : Google Scholar
2	Zhang P: Advantages, disadvantages, and trend of integrative medicine in the treatment of heart failure. Cell Biochem Biophys. 72:363–366. 2014. View Article : Google Scholar
3	Fu J, Pang J, Zhao X and Han J: The quantitative ideas and methods in assessment of four properties of chinese medicinal herbs. Cell Biochem Biophys. 71:1307–1312. 2014. View Article : Google Scholar
4	Ko RJ: A U.S. perspective on the adverse reactions from traditional Chinese medicines. J Chin Med Assoc. 67:109–116. 2004.PubMed/NCBI
5	Yin LM, Wang Y, Fan L, Xu YD, Wang WQ, Liu YY, Feng JT, Hu CP, Wang PY, Zhang TF, et al: Efficacy of acupuncture for chronic asthma: Study protocol for a randomized controlled trial. Trials. 16:4242015. View Article : Google Scholar : PubMed/NCBI
6	Birdee GS, Wayne PM, Davis RB, Phillips RS and Yeh GY: T'ai chi and qigong for health: Patterns of use in the United States. J Altern Complement Med. 15:969–973. 2009. View Article : Google Scholar : PubMed/NCBI
7	Li YZ, Li GZ, Gao JY, Zhang ZF, Fan QC, Xu JT, Bai GE, Chen KX, Shi HZ, Sun S, et al: Syndrome differentiation analysis on Mars500 data of traditional Chinese medicine. Sci World J. 2015:1257362015. View Article : Google Scholar
8	Li X, Xiao QQ, Ze K, Li S, Wang YF, Zhou M, Yang QT, Li FL and Li B: External application of traditional Chinese medicine for venous ulcers: A systematic review and meta-analysis. Evid Based Complement Alternat Med. 2015:8314742015. View Article : Google Scholar : PubMed/NCBI
9	Liu J, Wang S, Zhang Y, Fan HT and Lin HS: Traditional Chinese medicine and cancer: History, present situation, and development. Thorac Cancer. 6:561–569. 2015. View Article : Google Scholar : PubMed/NCBI
10	Tu Y: The discovery of artemisinin (qinghaosu) and gifts from Chinese medicine. Nat Med. 17:1217–1220. 2011. View Article : Google Scholar : PubMed/NCBI
11	Cui Y, Liao S and Wang H: ROC-Boosting: A feature selection method for health identification using tongue image. Comput Math Methods Med. 2015:3628062015. View Article : Google Scholar : PubMed/NCBI
12	Jiang B, Liang X, Chen Y, Ma T, Liu L, Li J, Jiang R, Chen T, Zhang X and Li S: Integrating next-generation sequencing and traditional tongue diagnosis to determine tongue coating microbiome. Sci Rep. 2:9362012.PubMed/NCBI
13	Lo LC, Cheng TL, Chen YJ, Natsagdorj S and Chiang JY: TCM tongue diagnosis index of early-stage breast cancer. Complement Ther Med. 23:705–713. 2015. View Article : Google Scholar : PubMed/NCBI
14	Kim J, Han G, Ko SJ, Nam DH, Park JW, Ryu B and Kim J: Tongue diagnosis system for quantitative assessment of tongue coating in patients with functional dyspepsia: A clinical trial. J Ethnopharmacol. 155:709–713. 2014. View Article : Google Scholar : PubMed/NCBI
15	Gareus I, Rampp T, Tan L, Lüdtke R, Niggemeier C, Lauche R, Klose P and Dobos G: Introducing a computer-assisted, digital tongue-imaging device for standardization of traditional tongue diagnosis. Forsch Komplement Med. 21:190–196. 2014.
16	Yu H, Wang Q, Wang Z, Sahinkaya E, Li Y, Ma J and Wu Z: Start-up of an anaerobic dynamic membrane digester for waste activated sludge digestion: Temporal variations in microbial communities. PLoS One. 9:e937102014. View Article : Google Scholar : PubMed/NCBI
17	Lynch MD, Bartram AK and Neufeld JD: Targeted recovery of novel phylogenetic diversity from next-generation sequence data. ISME J. 6:2067–2077. 2012. View Article : Google Scholar : PubMed/NCBI
18	Campagna M, Cocco P, Zucca M, Angelucci E, Gabbas A, Latte GC, Uras A, Rais M, Sanna S and Ennas MG: Risk of lymphoma subtypes and dietary habits in a Mediterranean area. Cancer Epidemiol. 39:1093–1098. 2015. View Article : Google Scholar : PubMed/NCBI
19	Alvarez-Cubero MJ, Pascual-Geler M, Rivas A, Martinez-Gonzalez LJ, Saiz M, Lorente JA and Cozar JM: Lifestyle and dietary factors in relation to prostate cancer risk. Int J Food Sci Nutr. 66:805–810. 2015. View Article : Google Scholar : PubMed/NCBI
20	Vento S and Tanko MN: The bacterium that could cause cancer. Lancet Oncol. 10:5282009. View Article : Google Scholar : PubMed/NCBI
21	Yamamoto S, Ishikawa Y, Nakaguchi T, Ogawa-Ochiai K, Tsumura N, Kasahara Y, Namiki T and Miyake Y: Temporal changes in tongue color as criterion for tongue diagnosis in Kampo medicine. Forsch Komplement Med. 19:80–85. 2012. View Article : Google Scholar
22	Integrative HMP; Integrative HMP (iHMP) Research Network Consortium. The Integrative Human Microbiome Project: Dynamic analysis of microbiome-host omics profiles during periods of human health and disease. Cell Host Microbe. 16:276–289. 2014. View Article : Google Scholar : PubMed/NCBI
23	Turnbaugh PJ, Ley RE, Hamady M, Fraser-Liggett CM, Knight R and Gordon JI: The human microbiome project. Nature. 449:804–810. 2007. View Article : Google Scholar : PubMed/NCBI