The Role of the Gut Microbiome in Cancer: A Review, With Special Focus on Colorectal Neoplasia and Clostridioides difficile
Author:
Anderson Sean M1,
Sears Cynthia L1
Affiliation:
1. Division of Infectious Diseases, Department of Medicine, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore , Maryland , USA
Abstract
Abstract
The gut microbiome has coevolved with humans to aid in physiologic functions and prevent disease. An increasing prevalence of gut dysbiosis in modern society exists and has strong linkages to multiple disease processes common in the developed world. Mechanisms for microbiome-human interactions that impact host homeostasis include bacterial metabolite/toxin production, biofilm formation with mucous layer infiltration, and host immune system modulation. Most of this crosstalk occurs at the epithelial layer of the gut, and as such the role of these interactions in the induction of colorectal cancer—a highly prevalent disease globally and one undergoing significant epidemiologic shifts—is under increasing scrutiny. Although multiple individual gut bacteria have been hypothesized as possible driver organisms in the oncogenic process, no bacterium has been definitively identified as a causal agent of colorectal cancer, suggesting that host lifestyle factors, microbiome community interactions, and the mucosal and/or systemic immune response may play a critical role in the process. Recent evidence has emerged implicating the ubiquitous human pathogen Clostridioides difficile as a possible promoter of colorectal cancer through chronic toxin-mediated cellular changes. Although much remains to be defined regarding the natural history of infections caused by this pathogen and its potential for oncogenesis, it provides a strong model for the role of both individual bacteria and of the gut microbial community as a whole in the development of colorectal cancer.
Funder
National Institutes of Health
Johns Hopkins University Division of Infectious Diseases
Bloomberg∼Kimmel Institute for Immunotherapy
Cancer Research UK Cancer Grand Challenges Initiative OPTIMISTICC team
Johns Hopkins University Department of Medicine
Publisher
Oxford University Press (OUP)
Subject
Infectious Diseases,Microbiology (medical)