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
Review
. 2019;12(Suppl1):S8-S13.

The association between gut microbiota, cholesterol gallstones, and colorectal cancer

Sama Rezasoltani  1 , Amir Sadeghi  2 , Ebrahim Radinnia  1 , Ali Naseh  3 , Zahra Gholamrezaei  1 , Mehdi Azizmohammad Looha  1 , Abbas Yadegar  3
Affiliations
Review

The association between gut microbiota, cholesterol gallstones, and colorectal cancer

Sama Rezasoltani et al. Gastroenterol Hepatol Bed Bench. 2019.

Abstract

Gut microbiota play critical roles in maintaining the human health in several aspects. Bile acids (BAs) are endogenous cholesterol-derived molecules that can be modified by the gut microbiota and act as signaling molecules in the regulation of host metabolic and physiology processes. Gut microbiota release many enzymes that are capable to perform considerable modifications on BAs such as bile salt hydrolases (BSH), 7α-dehydroxylase (CYP7A), and hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase (HSDH). These enzymatic roles can change in the gut microbiota composition, cause alteration in BAs profile and metabolism and even gallstone formation. Patients with 15 years of asymptomatic gallstone have increased risk for colorectal cancer (CRC), which may be related to altered gut microbiota, changes in bile metabolism, as well as cellular and molecular effects in the proximal colon. In gallstone-associated CRC patients, the association between consensus molecular subtypes of CRC should be clarified to identify if specific pathways are related.

Keywords: Cholesterol gallstones; Colorectal cancer; Gut microbiota.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
The enterohepatic circulation, BAs physiology and microbial BAs modification in the gut
See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

    1. Ganji L, Alebouyeh M, Shirazi MH, Eshraghi SS, Mirshafiey A, Ebrahimi Daryani N, et al. Dysbiosis of fecal microbiota and high frequency of Citrobacter, Klebsiella spp and Actinomycetes in patients with irritable bowel syndrome and gastroenteritis. Gastroenterol Hepatol Bed Bench. 2016;9:325–330. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Jahani-Sherafat S, Alebouyeh M, Moghim Sh, Ahmadi Amoli H, GhasemianSafaei H. Role of gut microbiota in the pathogenesis of colorectal cancer; a review article. Gastroenterol Hepatol Bed Bench. 2018;11:101–109. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Rezasoltani S, Asadzadeh-Aghdaei H, Nazemalhosseini-Mojarad E, Dabiri H, Ghanbari R, Zali MR. Gut microbiota, epigenetic modification and colorectal cancer. Iran J Microbiol. 2017;9:55–63. - PMC - PubMed
    1. Rostami Nejad M, Ishaq S, Al Dulaimi D, Zali MR, Rostami K. The role of infectious mediators and gut microbiome in the pathogenesis of celiac disease. Arch Iran Med. 2015;18:244–9. - PubMed
    1. Rezasoltani S, Dabiri H, Asadzadeh-Aghdaei H, Akhavan Sepahi A, Modarressi MH. Nazemalhosseini-Mojarad E. The gut microflora assay in patients with colorectal cancer: in feces or tissue samples? Iran J Microbiol. 2019;11:1–6. - PMC - PubMed

LinkOut - more resources