Fecal microbial biomarkers combined with multi-target stool DNA test improve diagnostic accuracy for colorectal cancer

Table 1 Basic demographic and clinical characteristics of cases and controls

Variable	Colorectal cancer patients	Health controls	P value
Gender			0.30
Male	34 (62.96)	27 (52.94)
Female	20 (37.04)	24 (47.06)
Age			0.00
mean ± SD	64.89 ± 9.72	53.94 ± 10.33
< 60 yr	18 (33.33)	35 (68.63)
≥ 60 yr	36 (66.67)	16 (31.37)
Education level			0.00
Junior high school and below	43 (79.63)	10 (19.61)
Senior high school and above	11 (20.37)	41 (80.39)
BMI (kg/m2)			0.00
≤ 18.5	4 (7.41)	0 (0.00)
18.5-23.9	37 (68.52)	24 (47.06)
≥ 24	13 (24.07)	27 (52.94)
Tumor location
Colon	36 (66.67)	-	-
Rectum	18 (33.33)	-	-
Pathogenic type		-	-
Protrude type	10 (18.52)	-	-
Infiltrating type	11 (20.37)	-	-
Ulcerative type	33 (61.11)	-	-
Differentiation		-	-
High	4 (7.41)	-	-
Medium/low	50 (92.59)	-	-
Histological type		-	-
Adenocarcinoma	54 (100.00)	-	-
Other types	0 (0.00)	-	-
Dukes stage		-	-
A	43 (79.63)	-	-
B	7 (12.96)	-	-
C	4 (7.41)	-	-
D	0 (0.0)	-	-

BMI: Body mass index.

Table 2 Evaluation of tumour marker expression, DNA score and fecal microbiota diagnostic index between cases and controls

Variable	Colorectal cancer patients	Health controls	P value
AFP
mean ± SD	5.70 ± 17.10	3.61 ± 1.59	0.27
≤ 7 μg/L	49 (90.74)	49 (96.08)
> 7.1 μg/L	5 (9.26)	2 (3.92)
CEA
mean ± SD	40.67 ± 154.34	2.22 ± 1.47	0.00
≤ 5 μg/L	38 (70.37)	48 (94.12)
> 5.1 μg/L	16 (29.63)	3 (5.88)
CA199			0.02
mean ± SD	59.65 ± 269.59	10.01 ± 9.26
≤ 25 μg/mL	44 (81.48)	49 (96.08)
> 25.1 μg/mL	10 (18.52)	2 (3.92)
DNA score
mean ± SD	787.87 ± 283.71	94.39 ± 41.62	0.00
< 165	5 (9.26)	50 (98.04)
≥ 165	49 (90.74)	1 (1.96)

FMDI: Fecal microbiota diagnostic index; CEA: Carcinoembryonic antigen; AFP: Alpha-fetoprotein; CA199: Carbohydrate antigen 199.