Multi-kingdom microbiota analyses identify bacterial–fungal interactions and biomarkers of colorectal cancer across cohorts

Researchers from the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) and partner institutions have uncovered alterations in the gut microbiota that are associated with colorectal cancer and are present in biological samples from eight distinct geographical cohorts from around the world. The results were published in the journal Nature Microbiology.

The research team compared microbiota alterations using data sets of 1368 biological samples. In the microbiota analyses, they found alterations in all three domains of life (fungi, archaea, and bacteria), as well as viruses, in relation to the development of colorectal cancer. Specifically, 16 multi-kingdom markers, including 11 bacterial, 4 fungal, and 1 archaeal feature, achieved good performance in diagnosing patients with colorectal cancer.

This work demonstrates the need to approach the development of colorectal cancer and diagnostic markers of the disease from a systems perspective. The findings show the applicability of multi-kingdom and functional markers as diagnostic tools for colorectal cancer and, potentially, as therapeutic targets for the treatment of this disease.

Liu NN, Jiao N, Tan JC, Wang Z, Wu D, Wang AJ, et al.
Multi-kingdom microbiota analyses identify bacterial–fungal interactions and biomarkers of colorectal cancer across cohorts
Nat Microbiol, published online 27 January 2022;
https://doi.org/10.1038/s41564-021-01030-7

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