Review
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2022. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Gastrointest Oncol. Feb 15, 2022; 14(2): 375-395
Published online Feb 15, 2022. doi: 10.4251/wjgo.v14.i2.375
Microbiome and colorectal carcinogenesis: Linked mechanisms and racial differences
Sofia C Tortora, Vimal M Bodiwala, Andrew Quinn, Laura A Martello, Shivakumar Vignesh
Sofia C Tortora, Vimal M Bodiwala, Andrew Quinn, Laura A Martello, Shivakumar Vignesh, Department of Medicine and Division of Gastroenterology & Hepatology, SUNY Downstate Health Sciences University, Brooklyn, NY 11203, United States
Author contributions: Tortora SC, Bodiwala VM and Quinn A wrote the manuscript; Tortora SC wrote Table; Martello LA and Vignesh S edited and added to manuscript; all authors have read and approve the final manuscript.
Conflict-of-interest statement: Authors declare no conflict of interests for this article.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (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/
Corresponding author: Shivakumar Vignesh, AGAF, FACG, FASGE, MD, Associate Professor, Department of Medicine and Division of Gastroenterology & Hepatology, SUNY Downstate Health Sciences University, 450 Clarkson Avenue, Brooklyn, NY 11203, United States. vignesh185@gmail.com
Received: July 13, 2021
Peer-review started: July 13, 2021
First decision: July 29, 2021
Revised: August 26, 2021
Accepted: January 14, 2022
Article in press: January 14, 2022
Published online: February 15, 2022
Processing time: 211 Days and 16.9 Hours
Core Tip

Core Tip: In this review, we describe oral and gut microbiome associated with colorectal (CRC) carcinogenesis in relation to the “hallmarks of cancer” and microbial diversity and abundance between races/ethnicities. CRC patients showed increased levels of Bacteroides, Prevotella, Escherichia coli, enterotoxigenic Bacteroides fragilis, Streptococcus gallolyticus, Enterococcus faecalis, Fusobacterium nucleatum (F. nucleatum) and Clostridium difficile. Higher levels of Bacteroides, F. nucleatum and Enterobacter species have been found in African American (AA) compared to Caucasian American (CA) CRC patients. Also, AA patients had decreased microbial diversity compared to CA patients. Periodontal-associated bacteria, Fusobacterium, Prevotella, Bacteroides and Porphyromonas, have been found in CRC tissues and in feces of CRC patients.