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According to new scientific reports, colorectal cancer can develop in people who have certain strains of E. coli in the body. This is yet another time scientists have linked cancer formation to bacteria.
Colon cancer and E. coli – scientists have found a clue
Colon cancer is a diagnosis that hears 18 thousand people every year Poles. Most, because as many as 12 thousand. of them dies. Scientists are still looking for risk factors associated with this disease. According to PAP, an international team of researchers from the universities of Utrecht, Leeds and Boston are on the trail, who have shown that colibactin – a toxin produced by some strains of Escherichia coli (coliforms) – can cause mutations in the cells lining the intestine. These strains are found in the body of an average of one in five people.
Also read: Iza was looking for help for two years. Doctors thought she was too young for colon cancer
Colibactin damages DNA
PAP reports that scientists conducted tests on miniature fragments of the human intestine (organoids). For five months (on weekdays), they injected E. coli bacteria into them, and at the end of each week, they removed them with an antibiotic to prevent them from tearing the organ. Five months later, they compared DNA from intestines into which E. coli had been introduced and intestines with strains incapable of producing colibactin. It turned out that colibactin damages DNA in a specific way – it destroys the same elements each time, e.g. APC, which is a key anti-cancer gene.
Will a change in the gut microflora help prevent cancer?
Researchers, having reached these conclusions, analyzed over 5 DNA samples taken from patients with various cancers. As it turned out, damage typical of colibactin appeared in over 5% of colorectal cancer patients and in less than 0,1 percent. patients with other cancers (e.g. of the mouth and bladder, where E. coli can also reach).
However, it is unclear whether and to what extent people who have colibactin-producing E. coli in their intestines are at increased risk of cancer. Further research is needed to find out. If one of the reports is confirmed and tests are made to detect these bacteria, there will be a chance to prevent thousands of cases. The intestinal microflora can be changed by faecal transplant or antibiotic treatment.
As Dr. Hans Clevers from the University of Utrecht pointed out, one of the colibactin-producing strains of E. coli is sold as a probiotic for constipation, diarrhea in children and irritable bowel syndrome. According to the scientist, this type of supplementation has a chance to bring relief from these ailments, but in the future it may contribute to the formation of cancer. Dr. Clevers emphasizes, however, that it is not the strains of bacteria present in the yoghurts.
Previous research has shown that there is an association between HPV infection and cervical cancer, as well as gastric cancer and the presence of Helicobacter pylori in the stomach. Colibactin is also produced by another bacterium – Klebsiella pneumoniae – which lives not only in the intestine, but also in the respiratory tract.
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