Association of Fusobacterium nucleatum infection with colorectal cancer in Chinese patients - PubMed (original) (raw)

Association of Fusobacterium nucleatum infection with colorectal cancer in Chinese patients

Yu-Yuan Li et al. World J Gastroenterol. 2016.

Abstract

Aim: To investigate Fusobacterium nucleatum (F. nucleatum) abundance in colorectal cancer (CRC) tissues and its association with CRC invasiveness in Chinese patients.

Methods: The resected cancer and adjacent normal tissues (10 cm beyond cancer margins) from 101 consecutive patients with CRC were collected. Fluorescent quantitative polymerase chain reaction (FQ-PCR) was applied to detect F. nucleatum in CRC and normal tissues. The difference of F. nucleatum abundance between cancer and normal tissues and the relationship of F. nucleatum abundance with clinical variables were evaluated. Fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) analysis was performed on 22 CRC tissues with the highest F. nucleatum abundance by FQ-PCR testing to confirm FQ-PCR results.

Results: The median abundance of F. nucleatum in CRC tissues [0.242 (0.178-0.276)] was significantly higher than that in normal controls [0.050 (0.023-0.067)] (P < 0.001). F. nucleatum was over-represented in 88/101 (87.1%) CRC samples. The abundance of F. nucleatum determined by 2(-ΔCT) was significantly greater in tumor samples [0.242 (0.178, 0.276)] than in normal controls [0.050 (0.023, 0.067)] (P < 0.001). The frequency of patients with lymph node metastases was higher in the over-abundance group [52/88 (59.1%)] than in the under-abundance group [0/13 (0%)] (P < 0.005). No significant association of F. nucleatum with other clinico-pathological variables was observed (P > 0.05). FISH analysis also found more F. nucleatum in CRC than in normal tissues (median number 6, 25(th) 3, 75(th) 10 vs 2, 25(th) 1, 75(th) 5) (P < 0.01).

Conclusion: F. nucleatum was enriched in CRC tissues and associated with CRC development and metastasis.

Keywords: Colorectal cancer; Fluorescence in situ hybridization; Fluorescent quantitative polymerase chain reaction; Fusobacterium nucleatum; Metastases.

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Figures

Figure 1

Figure 1

Fold change of Fusobacterium nucleatum abundance in colorectal cancer vs matched normal tissues (n = 101). 2-ΔΔCT represented the fold change of Fusobacterium nucleatum load in cancer tissue over matched normal tissues. The numbers in Y-axis indicated the 2-ΔΔCT value of each patient.

Figure 2

Figure 2

Enrichment of Fusobacterium nucleatum in colorectal cancer detected by FISH. Graph A: Colorectal cancer (CRC) specimen stained with DAPI. Cell nuclei were stained in blue; B: CRC specimen stained with both DAPI and universal bacterial probe (EUB338). Bacterial conserved regions were stained in green; C: CRC specimen stained with both DAPI and Fusobacterium specific probe (FUSO). The Fusobacterium nucleatum (F. nucleatum) specific regions were stained in red; D: CRC specimen triply stained with DAPI, EUSO and EUB338. Cell nuclei (in blue), bacterial conserved regions (in green) and F. nucleatum specific regions (in red) were clearly visible (all × 400).

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