Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2011 Feb 1;203(3):306-11.
doi: 10.1093/jinfdis/jiq061. Epub 2010 Dec 8.

Perspective: alpha-bugs, their microbial partners, and the link to colon cancer

Cynthia L Sears  1 , Drew M Pardoll
Affiliations

Perspective: alpha-bugs, their microbial partners, and the link to colon cancer

Cynthia L Sears et al. J Infect Dis. .
No abstract available

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

Figure 1.
Figure 1.
Tripartite relationship contributing to colon cancer pathogenesis. The microbiome, colonic mucosal immune balance, and colonic epithelial cell (CEC) responses (to the microbiome and mucosal immune responses) and CEC genetics are proposed to collectively contribute to the pathogenesis of colon cancer.
Figure 2.
Figure 2.
Model of colon cancer induction by Alpha-bugs. The model uses data on enterotoxigenic Bacteroidesfragilis (ETBF) as an example of a putative Alpha-bug. Detailed description of the model is contained in the text. Abbreviations: ROS = reactive oxygen species; NOS = nitric oxide synthase.
Figure 3.
Figure 3.
Enterotoxigenic Bacteroides fragilis (ETBF)–induced colon tumors in multiple intestinal neoplasia (Min) mice. Colons from Min mice colonized with ETBF or nontoxigenic B. fragilis (NTBF) or sham-inoculated mice for one or 3 months are shown. Colons are stained with methylene blue to facilitate enumeration of colon tumors by dissecting microscope examination. The number of colon tumors identified in each depicted mouse colon is shown in parentheses.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Eckburg PB, Bik EM, Bernstein CN, et al. Diversity of the human intestinal microbial flora. Science. 2005;308:1635–8. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Costello EK, Lauber CL, Hamady M, Fierer N, Gordon JI, Knight R. Bacterial community variation in human body habitats across space and time. Science. 2009;326:1694–7. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Aries V, Crowther JS, Drasar BS, Hill MJ, Williams RE. Bacteria and the aetiology of cancer of the large bowel. Gut. 1969;10:334–5. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Wu S, Rhee KJ, Albesiano E, et al. A human colonic commensal promotes colon tumorigenesis via activation of T helper type 17 T cell responses. Nat Med. 2009;15:1016–22. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Frank DN, St.Amand AL, Feldman RA, Boedeker EC, Harpaz N, Pace NR. Molecular-phylogenetic characterization of microbial community imbalances in human inflammatory bowel diseases. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2007;104:13780–5. - PMC - PubMed

Publication types