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Bacterial toxins and cancer — a case to answer?

Nature Reviews Microbiology volume 3, pages 343–349 (2005)Cite this article

Abstract

Since the discovery that Helicobacter pylori infection leads to gastric cancer, other chronic bacterial infections have been shown to cause cancer. The bacterial and host molecular mechanisms remain unclear. However, many bacteria that cause persistent infections produce toxins that specifically disrupt cellular signalling to perturb the regulation of cell growth or to induce inflammation. Other bacterial toxins directly damage DNA. Such toxins mimic carcinogens and tumour promoters and might represent a paradigm for bacterially induced carcinogenesis.

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Figure 1: Helicobacter pylori interaction with host cell functions.
Figure 2: Signalling pathways affected by the Pasteurella multocida toxin (PMT).

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Acknowledgements

I am grateful to A. Grigoriadis, K. Homer, A. Hosie, R. Palmer, R. Reljic, L. Samson, B. Thomas and W. Wade for helpful comments on the manuscript.

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  1. Department of Microbiology, Dental Institute, King's College London, Floor 28 Guy's Tower, Guy's Hospital, London, SE1 9RT, UK

    Alistair J. Lax

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DATABASES

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Bacteroides fragilis

Campylobacter jejuni

Chlamydia psittaci

Citrobacter rodentium

Helicobacter pylori

Salmonella typhi

Pasteurella multocida

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National Cancer Institute

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Lax, A. Bacterial toxins and cancer — a case to answer?. Nat Rev Microbiol 3, 343–349 (2005). https://doi.org/10.1038/nrmicro1130

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