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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Oncol.
Sec. Gastrointestinal Cancers: Colorectal Cancer
Volume 14 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fonc.2024.1473575
This article is part of the Research Topic The microbiome in the development of gastrointestinal diseases View all 16 articles

Association of Fusobacterium nucleatum infection with colorectal cancer in Kazakhstani patients

Provisionally accepted
Gulmira Kulmambetova Gulmira Kulmambetova 1*Botakoz Kurentay Botakoz Kurentay 1Alua Gusmaulemova Alua Gusmaulemova 1Talgat Utupov Talgat Utupov 1Dana Auganova Dana Auganova 1Pavel Tarlykov Pavel Tarlykov 1Meiram Mamlin Meiram Mamlin 2Saule Khamzina Saule Khamzina 2Sanzhar Shalekenov Sanzhar Shalekenov 2Arman Kozhakhmetov Arman Kozhakhmetov 3
  • 1 National Center for Biotechnology, Astana, Kazakhstan
  • 2 National Research Oncology Center, Astana, Kazakhstan
  • 3 Nazarbayev University School of Medicine, Astana, Kazakhstan

The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

    Objectives: Fusobacterium nucleatum is a gram-negative anaerobic bacillus associated with colorectal cancer (CRC). We aimed to determine the abundance of F. nucleatum and other CRCassociated bacteria using quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (qPCR) analysis to detect the possible correlations between tumor and normal tissues and the relationships between patients' clinical characteristics, diet, and CRC-associated bacteria.Methods: A total of 249 biopsy samples of tumor and paired normal tissues were collected from patients with CRC. Biopsy samples were screened for detection of F. nucleatum using qPCR targeting nusG gene. Bacteroides fragilis, Escherichia coli, and Streptococcus gallolyticus were also detected in the samples using species-specific genes.The frequencies of detection of F. nucleatum in the tumor and normal tissues of patients with CRC were 43.37 and 24.1 %, respectively (P < 0.05). Statistical analysis using cycle threshold (Ct) values from qPCR data and clinical characteristics showed that tumor size, tumor location, and processed meat consumption were significantly correlated with the abundance of F. nucleatum (P < 0.05). The significance of the prevalence of B. fragilis and E. coli in tumor tissues was marginally higher than that in normal tissues (P < 0.1), and the consumption of processed/red meat affected the prevalence of these bacteria (P < 0.05).Our results showed an association between the presence of F. nucleatum in tumor tissues and CRC, indicating that F. nucleatum may be a potential marker for CRC diagnosis. F. nucleatum is enriched in CRC tissues and is associated with CRC development.

    Keywords: abundance, colorectal cancer, Fusobacterium nucleatum, Kazakhstan, qPCR

    Received: 31 Jul 2024; Accepted: 27 Nov 2024.

    Copyright: © 2024 Kulmambetova, Kurentay, Gusmaulemova, Utupov, Auganova, Tarlykov, Mamlin, Khamzina, Shalekenov and Kozhakhmetov. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

    * Correspondence: Gulmira Kulmambetova, National Center for Biotechnology, Astana, Kazakhstan

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