Fig. 6

The association between clinicopathological factors and thyroid microbiota. A, B The differences in Chao1 and Shannon indices between tumor tissues from thyroid cancer patients at N0 and N1 stage. Mann–Whitney U tests were performed. C Principal coordinate analysis (PCoA) based on Bray–Curtis distance revealed that thyroid cancer patients at N0 stage were significantly different from those at N1 stage. D Linear discriminant analysis (LDA) effect size (LEfSe) analysis (LDA > 3.0, corrected P value < 0.05) was performed to evaluate differential taxa at the genus level. E The differential abundance of Sphingomonas between N0 and N1 stage was further validated using the Mann–Whitney U test. F The receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve for Sphingomonas genera was plotted using microbial relative abundance to assess the value of thyroid microbiota as a diagnostic tool to distinguish between thyroid patients with N0 and N1 stage. G, H The differences in Chao1 and Shannon indices between tumor tissues from male and female patients with thyroid cancer. Mann–Whitney U tests were performed. I Principal coordinate analysis (PCoA) of thyroid microbiota in male and female patients with thyroid cancer based on Bray–Curtis distance. J, K The differences in Chao1 and Shannon indices between tumor tissues from thyroid cancer patients aged ≥ 55 and < 55. Mann–Whitney U tests were performed. L Principal coordinate analysis (PCoA) of thyroid microbiota in patients with thyroid cancer aged ≥ 55 and < 55 based on Bray–Curtis distance