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Artif Intell Cancer. Oct 28, 2021; 2(5): 69-78
Published online Oct 28, 2021. doi: 10.35713/aic.v2.i5.69
Artificial intelligence reveals roles of gut microbiota in driving human colorectal cancer evolution
Xue-Hua Wan
Xue-Hua Wan, TEDA Institute of Biological Sciences and Biotechnology, Nankai University, Tianjin 300457, China
Author contributions: Wan XH wrote and revised the manuscript; Wan XH has read and approve the final manuscript.
Conflict-of-interest statement: Author declares no conflict of interest.
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: https://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Xue-Hua Wan, PhD, Assistant Professor, Senior Researcher, TEDA Institute of Biological Sciences and Biotechnology, Nankai University, No. 23 Honda Street, Tianjin 300457, China. xuehua.wan@hotmail.com
Received: October 19, 2021
Peer-review started: October 19, 2021
First decision: October 24, 2021
Revised: October 24, 2021
Accepted: October 27, 2021
Article in press: October 27, 2021
Published online: October 28, 2021
Processing time: 8 Days and 22.4 Hours
Abstract

With the rapid development of high-throughput sequencing and artificial intelligence (AI) techniques, gut mucosal microbiota begins to be recognized as critical drivers of human colorectal cancer (CRC). Various AI approaches have been designed to obtain effective information from enormous numbers of microbial cells residing in gut mucosal as well as cancer cells. These mainly include detection of microbial markers for early clinical diagnosis of stage-specific CRC, characterization of pathogenic bacterial activities via genomic and transcriptomic analyses, and prediction of interplay between bacterial drivers and host immune systems. Here I review the current progresses of AI applications in profiling gut microbiomes linked to CRC initiation and development. I further look forward to future AI research for improving our understanding of the roles of gut microbiota in CRC evolution.

Keywords: Artificial intelligence; Colorectal cancer; Gut microbiome; High-throughput sequencing

Core Tip: In this review, the author reviews the current progresses of artificial intelligence (AI) applications in profiling gut microbiomes linked to colorectal cancer (CRC) initiation and development. The author further looks forward to future AI research for improving our understanding of the roles of gut microbiota in CRC evolution.