The Esophageal Microbiota in Esophageal Health and Disease
, Daria Maniero 1, Caterina De Barba 1, Luisa Bertin 1,2, Brigida Barberio 2, Renato Salvador 3, Michele Valmasoni 4, Fabiana Zingone 1,2, Matteo Ghisa 1 and Edoardo Vincenzo Savarino 1,2,*Round 1
Reviewer 1 Report
Comments and Suggestions for AuthorsThis paper synthesized findings on the esophageal microbiota composition,
variation between healthy individuals and patients with esophageal diseases..
It has some interests for this field. Some special points are listed below:
1：It should change "eosinophilic esophagitis" to "esophagitis."（Line 75）
2：It is best to summarize some changes in the microbiota associated with non-eosinophilic esophagitis.
3：When describing esophageal microbiota in esophageal cancer, it is best to categorize the description according to pathological types. Additionally, distinguishing based on the location of esophageal cancer is also very important.
4：It is best to include a section on the impact of oral microbiota on esophageal diseases.
5：Improve the figure to make it more aesthetically pleasing; the black arrows here are somewhat unappealing.
Comments on the Quality of English LanguageNeed improved
Author Response
Please see the attachment
Author Response File: 
Author Response.pdf
Reviewer 2 Report
Comments and Suggestions for Authors
Thank you for the opportunity to review this systematic review by Bonazzi et al.
In their manuscript, the authors review the available literature on changes in microbiota and microbiome within the healthy and non-healthy esophagus. Their review is comprehensive and graphic supplements offer an interesting overview on the state of research on the subject. I have few major comments, as outlined below, and would suggest some minor corrections (mostly concerning formal English writing).
Major comments
- To improve clarity, I would suggest that the authors define the terms ‘microbiota’ and ‘microbiome’, and clearly state that the studies included in the review analyzed either one of them (and not just microbiota).
- The authors seem to imply the involvement of microbiota in the pathogenesis of several conditions. While this is plausible, most of the data presented in the manuscript discusses the association between changes in microbiota and specific diseases vs controls. One might argue that changes in the microbiota are the consequence of conditions that developed independently, since the presence of a correlation does not imply causation (see: paragraph regarding microbiota in GERD). I would suggest the authors soften sentences such as “…the importance of the esophageal microbiota […] in the onset and development…” (Line 201) and “…the importance of the esophageal microbiota […] in esophageal cancer onset and development.’ (Line 353). The implication of the microbiota remains ‘potential’ at this time.
Minor comments:
Formal English review of the entire manuscript is recommended. I’m offering a partial list of examples below:
- Line 74: replace ‘keyewords’ with ‘keywords’
- Overall, paragraph 3.2 would benefit from extensive revision of formal English
o Line 133: ‘esopghageal’ with ‘esophageal’
o The syntaxis of the sentence starting Line 134 should be revised
o Line 152: replace ‘o’ with ‘of’
- Line 159: would remove ‘prevalently’, since it affects both populations.
- Line 190: please define the acronym ‘OTUs’
- Line 219: replace ‘74’ with ‘Seventy-four’
- Line 231: remove ‘appear’ and substitute with ‘are’
- Line 244: replace ‘hypothesize’ with ‘hypothesized’
- Line 289: remove ‘appear’ and substitute with ‘are’
- Line 297: esophageal carcinoma includes few rare histological subtypes beyond squamous cell carcinoma and adenocarcinoma. Would rephrase.
- Line 376: remove ‘a’ before ‘healthy individuals’
Comments on the Quality of English LanguageSee above comments
Author Response
Please see the attchment
Author Response File: Author Response.pdf
