A Bacterial Driver-passenger Model for Colorectal Cancer: Beyond the Usual Suspects

Overview

Journal Nat Rev Microbiol

Specialties Infectious Diseases
Microbiology

Date 2012 Jun 26

PMID 22728587

Citations 448

Authors

Harold Tjalsma

Annemarie Boleij

Julian R Marchesi

Bas E Dutilh

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

Cancer has long been considered a genetic disease. However, accumulating evidence supports the involvement of infectious agents in the development of cancer, especially in those organs that are continuously exposed to microorganisms, such as the large intestine. Recent next-generation sequencing studies of the intestinal microbiota now offer an unprecedented view of the aetiology of sporadic colorectal cancer and have revealed that the microbiota associated with colorectal cancer contains bacterial species that differ in their temporal associations with developing tumours. Here, we propose a bacterial driver-passenger model for microbial involvement in the development of colorectal cancer and suggest that this model be incorporated into the genetic paradigm of cancer progression.

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