Microbial markers in colorectal cancer detection and/or prognosis

Abstract

Colorectal cancer (CRC) is the second leading cause of cancer worldwide. CRC is still associated with a poor prognosis among patients with advanced disease. On the contrary, due to its slow progression from detectable precancerous lesions, the prognosis for patients with early stages of CRC is encouraging. While most robust methods are invasive and costly, actual patient-friendly screening methods for CRC suffer of lack of sensitivity and specificity. Therefore, the development of sensitive, non-invasive and cost-effective methods for CRC detection and prognosis are necessary for increasing the chances of a cure. Beyond its beneficial functions for the host, increasing evidence suggests that the intestinal microbiota is a key factor associated with carcinogenesis. Many clinical studies have reported a disruption in the gut microbiota balance and an alteration in the faecal metabolome of CRC patients, suggesting the potential use of a microbial-based test as a non-invasive diagnostic and/or prognostic tool for CRC screening. This review aims to discuss the microbial signatures associated with CRC known to date, including dysbiosis and faecal metabolome alterations, and the potential use of microbial variation markers for non-invasive early diagnosis and/or prognostic assessment of CRC and advanced adenomas. We will finally discuss the possible use of these markers as predicators for treatment response and their limitations.

The Role of Gut Microbiome Perturbation in Fatigue Induced by Repeated Stress from Chemoradiotherapy: A Proof of Concept Study

“…compared with healthy voluntaries [33]. Also, some strains of E. coli are positively correlated with CRC tumor size [35]. In addition, some evidence suggests associations between E.coli and a compromise intestinal barrier integrity, inflammation, and potential hepatotoxic events in nonalcoholic fatty liver disease [36].…”

Metabolomic Discovery of Microbiota Dysfunction as the Cause of Pathology

“…Most of the data on the correlation between a microbiota and cancer tumors is in the gastroenterology [26][27][28][29][30][31]. Such intestinal microorganisms as Fusobacterium nucleatum, Streptococcus gallolyticus, Bacteroides fragilis, Escherichia coli, and Enterococcus faecalis are most often mentioned as potential participants of the process.…”

Infection with genotoxin‐producingSalmonella entericasynergises with loss of the tumour suppressorAPCin promoting genomic instability via the PI3K pathway in colonic epithelial cells

“…In addition to germline genetic alterations, different diets and lifestyles have a significant impact on colorectal carcinogenesis (reviewed in Huxley et al, ). The introduction of next generation sequencing has highlighted significant alterations in the intestinal microbiota of CRC patients compared with healthy subjects (Villeger et al, ). However, it is still unknown whether the dysbiosis precedes or is a consequence of the tumour microenvironment and whether microbial products contribute to the carcinogenic process.…”

“…In addition to germline genetic alterations, different diets and lifestyles have a significant impact on colorectal carcinogenesis (reviewed in Huxley et al, 2009). The introduction of next generation sequencing has highlighted significant alterations in the intestinal microbiota of CRC patients compared with healthy subjects (Villeger et al, 2018).…”