Systematic Reviews
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2017. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Gastroenterol. Dec 28, 2017; 23(48): 8626-8650
Published online Dec 28, 2017. doi: 10.3748/wjg.v23.i48.8626
Fusobacterium’s link to colorectal neoplasia sequenced: A systematic review and future insights
Hisham Hussan, Steven K Clinton, Kristen Roberts, Michael T Bailey
Hisham Hussan, Kristen Roberts, Division of Gastroenterology, Hepatology and Nutrition, Department of Internal Medicine, The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center, Columbus, OH 43210, United States
Hisham Hussan, Steven K Clinton, Comprehensive Cancer Center, The Ohio State University, Columbus, OH 43210, United States
Steven K Clinton, Division of Medical Oncology, Department of Internal Medicine, The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center, Columbus, OH 43210, United States
Michael T Bailey, Department of Pediatrics, OSU College of Medicine And Center for Microbial Pathogenesis, The Research Institute at Nationwide Children’s Hospital, Columbus, OH 43205, United States
Author contributions: Hussan H was involved in conception, design, systematic review of data, and drafting and critical revision of the manuscript; The above author had full access to all of the data in the study and takes responsibility for the integrity of the data; Roberts K performed an independent systematic review of the literature and contributed to critical review of the data and manuscript; Clinton SK and Bailey MT contributed to the design, interpretation of data, writing of the manuscript, and final review of the manuscript; all gave final approval of the submitted manuscript and take responsibility for the integrity of the work.
Conflict-of-interest statement: The authors do not have any relevant conflicts of interest (including relevant financial interests, activities, relationships, and/or affiliations).
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Correspondence to: Hisham Hussan, MD, Assistant Professor, Division of Gastroenterology, Hepatology and Nutrition, Department of Internal Medicine, The Ohio State University Wexner Medical Center, 395 W 12th Ave, Suite 240, Columbus, OH 43210, United States. hisham.hussan@osumc.edu
Telephone: +1-614-2931576 Fax: +1-614-2938518
Received: July 30, 2017
Peer-review started: July 30, 2017
First decision: August 30, 2017
Revised: October 9, 2017
Accepted: November 8, 2017
Article in press: November 8, 2017
Published online: December 28, 2017
Processing time: 151 Days and 17.1 Hours
Core Tip

Core tip: This is, to our knowledge, the first review to systematically examine the heterogeneous literature linking Fusobacterium to colorectal neoplasia. Accumulating evidence suggests that Fusobacterium, specifically Fusobacterium nucleatum (F. nucleatum), is more frequently detected in colorectal neoplasia, especially the pathway involving microsatellite instability. Multiple observational and animal experimental studies also suggest a procarcinogenic effect of F. nucleatum, likely due to activation of oncogenic and inflammatory pathways and modulation of the tumor immune environment. Virulence factors of F. nucleatum may contribute to its procarcinogenic effect. This information may be used to create novel strategies targeting colorectal cancer detection and chemoprevention.