Fukugaiti MH, Ignacio A, Fernandes MR, Ribeiro Júnior U, Nakano V, Avila-Campos MJ. High occurrence of Fusobacterium nucleatum and Clostridium difficile in the intestinal microbiota of colorectal carcinoma patients.
Braz J Microbiol 2015;
46:1135-40. [PMID:
26691472 PMCID:
PMC4704648 DOI:
10.1590/s1517-838246420140665]
[Citation(s) in RCA: 89] [Impact Index Per Article: 9.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 08/05/2014] [Accepted: 02/16/2015] [Indexed: 12/12/2022] Open
Abstract
Colorectal carcinoma is considered the fourth leading cause of cancer deaths worldwide. Several microorganisms have been associated with carcinogenesis, including Enterococcus spp., Helicobacter pylori, enterotoxigenic Bacteroides fragilis, pathogenic E. coli strains and oral Fusobacterium. Here we qualitatively and quantitatively evaluated the presence of oral and intestinal microorganisms in the fecal microbiota of colorectal cancer patients and healthy controls. Seventeen patients (between 49 and 70 years-old) visiting the Cancer Institute of the Sao Paulo State were selected, 7 of whom were diagnosed with colorectal carcinoma. Bacterial detection was performed by qRT-PCR. Although all of the tested bacteria were detected in the majority of the fecal samples, quantitative differences between the Cancer Group and healthy controls were detected only for F. nucleatum and C. difficile. The three tested oral microorganisms were frequently observed, suggesting a need for furthers studies into a potential role for these bacteria during colorectal carcinoma pathogenesis. Despite the small number of patients included in this study, we were able to detect significantly more F. nucleatum and C. difficile in the Cancer Group patients compared to healthy controls, suggesting a possible role of these bacteria in colon carcinogenesis. This finding should be considered when screening for colorectal cancer.
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