Dental infections linked to bowel cancer
POSTED October 19, 2011 - 09:53 | POSTED BY munish2425
Last edited by Simmy Mishra on October 19, 2011 - 16:18
The etiology of bowel cancers is still unknown but they commonly run in families and with age the chances of contracting it increase. It is the third most common form of cancer other than breast and lung cancers.
According to Sarah Williams, a member of cancer research, UK, “The research gave a clue about the environment in which bowel cancer grows."
“In the meantime, people can reduce their risk of bowel cancer by not smoking, cutting down on alcohol, keeping a healthy weight, being active, reducing the amount of red and processed meat in their diet and eating plenty of fiber," she added.
Study details
100 samples of both healthy and cancerous tissues from the bowel were taken from patients belonging to US, Vietnam, Barcelona and Canada.
The genetic material was then analyzed in the tumor samples and finally human genes were subtracted from the mix. What remained behind were microbe genes.
All this was accomplished through the use of new generation tools of genomic analysis.
Rise of bacteria in cancerous tissues
Pathologist at Dana Farber Cancer Institute, and senior author of one of the studies, Matthew Meyerson, said it surprised him how bacteria were found in biopsy samples taken from the cancerous tumours.
The bacteria otherwise found mainly in the mouth due to periodontal diseases, Fusobacterium numbers were unexpectedly high in cases of bowel tumors. They were moreover invading into other cells thereby showing metastatic property.
The number of Fusobacterium was 79 times higher in colon cancer cells when compared to normal cells.
Further findings found that the number of bacteria was quite high in patients whose cancer has spread beyond colon.
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