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A bacterial mutational footprint in colorectal cancer genomes

British Journal of Cancer volume 124, pages 1751–1753 (2021)Cite this article

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Summary

Changes in the microbiome are associated with the development of colorectal cancer, but causal explanations have been lacking. We recently demonstrated that pks+ Escherichia coli induce a specific mutational pattern using intestinal organoids and these mutations are present in the genomes of colorectal cancer. This finding warrants further studies on the microbial role in oncogenic mutation induction, cancer development and future preventive strategies.

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Fig. 1: pks+ mutational signatures in intestinal organoids and CRC.

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Acknowledgements

We thank H. Clevers and R. van Boxtel for critical reading of the manuscript.

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Author notes

  1. These authors contributed equally: Axel Rosendahl Huber, Cayetano Pleguezuelos-Manzano, Jens Puschhof

Authors and Affiliations

  1. The Princess Máxima Center for Pediatric Oncology, Utrecht, The Netherlands

    Axel Rosendahl Huber

  2. Oncode Institute, Hubrecht Institute, Utrecht, The Netherlands

    Axel Rosendahl Huber, Cayetano Pleguezuelos-Manzano & Jens Puschhof

  3. Hubrecht Institute, Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences (KNAW) and UMC Utrecht, Utrecht, The Netherlands

    Cayetano Pleguezuelos-Manzano & Jens Puschhof

Authors
  1. Axel Rosendahl Huber
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  2. Cayetano Pleguezuelos-Manzano
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  3. Jens Puschhof
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Contributions

A.R.H., C.P.-M. and J.P. contributed equally to the conceptualisation, writing and editing of the manuscript. C.P.-M. generated the image illustration.

Corresponding authors

Correspondence to Axel Rosendahl Huber, Cayetano Pleguezuelos-Manzano or Jens Puschhof.

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Competing interests

The authors declare no competing interests.

Funding information

A.R.H., C.P.-M. and J.P. were supported by the Oncode Institute (partly financed by the Dutch Cancer Society). A.R.H. was supported by a VIDI grant from the NWO (no. 016.Vidi.171.023); C.P.-M. and J.P. were supported by the following grants: CRUK OPTIMISTICC (C10674/A27140), the Gravitation project CancerGenomiCs.nl, and the Netherlands Organ-on-Chip Initiative (024.003.001) from the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO) funded by the Ministry of Education, Culture and Science of the government of the Netherlands.

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Rosendahl Huber, A., Pleguezuelos-Manzano, C. & Puschhof, J. A bacterial mutational footprint in colorectal cancer genomes. Br J Cancer 124, 1751–1753 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41416-021-01273-5

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