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Review
. 2023 Jan 30;15(3):866.
doi: 10.3390/cancers15030866.

Gut Microbiota in Colorectal Cancer: Biological Role and Therapeutic Opportunities

Himani Pandey  1 , Daryl W T Tang  2 , Sunny H Wong  3 , Devi Lal  4
Affiliations
Review

Gut Microbiota in Colorectal Cancer: Biological Role and Therapeutic Opportunities

Himani Pandey et al. Cancers (Basel). .

Abstract

Colorectal cancer (CRC) is the second-leading cause of cancer-related deaths worldwide. While CRC is thought to be an interplay between genetic and environmental factors, several lines of evidence suggest the involvement of gut microbiota in promoting inflammation and tumor progression. Gut microbiota refer to the ~40 trillion microorganisms that inhabit the human gut. Advances in next-generation sequencing technologies and metagenomics have provided new insights into the gut microbial ecology and have helped in linking gut microbiota to CRC. Many studies carried out in humans and animal models have emphasized the role of certain gut bacteria, such as Fusobacterium nucleatum, enterotoxigenic Bacteroides fragilis, and colibactin-producing Escherichia coli, in the onset and progression of CRC. Metagenomic studies have opened up new avenues for the application of gut microbiota in the diagnosis, prevention, and treatment of CRC. This review article summarizes the role of gut microbiota in CRC development and its use as a biomarker to predict the disease and its potential therapeutic applications.

Keywords: chemotherapy; colorectal cancer; dysbiosis; immunotherapy; microbiota; probiotics.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare no conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Diagram showing putative bacteria implicated in colorectal carcinogenesis and their molecular mechanisms. Figure created with BioRender.com.
Figure 2
Figure 2
Food components, microbial metabolites, and their physiological effects that play putative roles in colorectal carcinogensis. Figure created with BioRender.com.
Figure 3
Figure 3
Diagram showing bacteria as potential probiotic for colorectal cancer. Figure created with BioRender.com.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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