Abstract
We reviewed the anti-tumor mechanisms of short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs) as well as the relationship between the gut microbiome and the pathology of colorectal carcinoma (CRC). According to our in silico analysis of human CRC cell lines, it was shown that SCFAs suppress various genes and transcription factors that participate in tumor growth/proliferation and cell turnover, and butyric acid displayed the strongest inhibitory effects among SCFAs. Metagenomics analysis of fecal and tumor epithelial microbiomes in patients with CRC suggested that the disease progression of CRC is affected by the crosstalk between carcinoma epithelial cells and gut microbes. No microbes producing SCFAs were identified in the fecal or tumor epithelial microbiomes of patients with CRC. Our findings also suggested that microbes in the feces and tumor epithelia of patients with CRC do not affect oncogenes or carcinogenic pathway.
Keywords
Gut microbiome, Colorectal carcinoma, Short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs), Colonic epithelium-microbiome crosstalk, Tumor growth and proliferation, In silico analysis