Research may lead to a new bowel cancer detection method

HRB-funded research at the Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland, and just published in the European Journal of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases, could lead to a new biomarker for bowel cancer

Long, pointy Gram-negative rods typical of Fusobacterium nucleatum. Image from www.infectionnet.org

The research, led by Dr David Hughes at the Department of Physiology and Medical Physics, RCSI found a significantly increased presence of a common microbe, Fusobacterium nucleatum (Fn), in tissue and stool samples of patients with colorectal cancers and colorectal benign tumours.

Commenting on the findings, Dr Hughes said,

'Our research found that cancer patients with low bacterial levels had significantly longer survival times than patients with moderate and high levels of the bacterium. Also, for patients with a benign tumour, we found that the presence of the bacteria may be a risk factor for disease progression from tumour to cancer. This is a significant finding because it highlights the potential of Fn detection as a possible indicator of colorectal cancers'.

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Efforts to combat Fn infection could be considered for colorectal cancers patients with high levels of the bacterium to improve the survival prospects for these patients.
More details are available from the RCSI