Shang FM, Liu HL. Fusobacterium nucleatum and colorectal cancer: A review. World J Gastrointest Oncol 2018; 10(3): 71-81 [PMID: 29564037 DOI: 10.4251/wjgo.v10.i3.71]
Corresponding Author of This Article
Hong-Li Liu, MD, PhD, Professor, Chief Physician, Cancer Center, Union Hospital, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, No. 1277 Jiefang Avenue, Wuhan 430022, Hubei Province, China. hongli_liu@hust.edu.cn
Research Domain of This Article
Oncology
Article-Type of This Article
Review
Open-Access Policy of This Article
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/
World J Gastrointest Oncol. Mar 15, 2018; 10(3): 71-81 Published online Mar 15, 2018. doi: 10.4251/wjgo.v10.i3.71
Fusobacterium nucleatum and colorectal cancer: A review
Fu-Mei Shang, Hong-Li Liu
Fu-Mei Shang, Hong-Li Liu, Cancer Center, Union Hospital, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Wuhan 430022, Hubei Province, China
Author contributions: All authors equally contributed to this paper with conception and design of the study, literature review and analysis, drafting and critical revision and editing, and final approval of the final version.
Supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China, No. 81472707.
Conflict-of-interest statement: No potential conflicts of interest.
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: Hong-Li Liu, MD, PhD, Professor, Chief Physician, Cancer Center, Union Hospital, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, No. 1277 Jiefang Avenue, Wuhan 430022, Hubei Province, China. hongli_liu@hust.edu.cn
Telephone: +86-27-85871962 Fax: +86-27-65650733
Received: December 8, 2017 Peer-review started: December 8, 2017 First decision: December 22, 2017 Revised: January 9, 2018 Accepted: March 6, 2018 Article in press: March 6, 2018 Published online: March 15, 2018 Processing time: 96 Days and 2 Hours
Abstract
Fusobacterium nucleatum (F. nucleatum) is a Gram-negative obligate anaerobe bacterium in the oral cavity and plays a role in several oral diseases, including periodontitis and gingivitis. Recently, several studies have reported that the level of F. nucleatum is significantly elevated in human colorectal adenomas and carcinomas compared to that in adjacent normal tissue. Several researchers have also demonstrated that F. nucleatum is obviously associated with colorectal cancer and promotes the development of colorectal neoplasms. In this review, we have summarized the recent reports on F. nucleatum and its role in colorectal cancer and have highlighted the methods of detecting F. nucleatum in colorectal cancer, the underlying mechanisms of pathogenesis, immunity status, and colorectal cancer prevention strategies that target F. nucleatum.
Core tip: Fusobacterium nucleatum (F. nucleatum) promotes the progress of colorectal adenomas involving in multiple potential mechanisms. F. nucleatum positivity in colorectal cancer (CRC) is different in different research groups. Some potential biomarkers may be regarded as a criterion for judging CRC prognosis. Some chemoprevention and immunotherapy strategies on F. nucleatum-positive colorectal cancer need to be further explored in the future.
