Early cancer diagnosis and treatment is critical to recovery and survival rate. Many researches had been carried out to find such a link. A review of these studies by a group of Brazilian researchers led by Dr. dos Reis have proposed three crucial findings to uncover this link.
The first finding suggests that if some gut flora can trigger inflammation, they can also initiate colorectal cancer. Therefore, patients with chronic gut inflammation are at a higher risk to have bowel cancer.
The second finding identified a few potential carcinogenic bacteria. Escherichia coli can cause the cells lining the colon to divide uncontrollably and possibly lead to cancer. On the other hand, B. fragilis and Clostridium can produce carcinogenic molecules and cause benign tumors to become cancerous.
The third finding is about the specific correlation between Fusobacterium and adenoma, which is a type of benign tumor. Fusobacterium is already unlikely to be present in healthy guts, and patients with it is 3.5 times more likely to develop adenoma in colon.
Those findings can further suggest using gut microbiome to diagnose colon cancer.
Resources
Sharkey L (2019) Do Gut Bacteria Affect Bowel Cancer Development.