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Distinct gut microbiome patterns associate with consensus molecular subtypes of colorectal cancer
Open accessPublished version of a preprint
Abstract
Colorectal cancer (CRC) is a heterogeneous disease and recent advances in subtype classification have successfully stratified the disease using molecular profiling. The contribution of bacterial species to CRC development is increasingly acknowledged, and here, we sought to analyse CRC microbiomes and relate them to tumour consensus molecular subtypes (CMS), in order to better understand the relationship between bacterial species and the molecular mechanisms associated with CRC subtypes. We classified 34 tumours into CRC subtypes using RNA-sequencing derived gene expression and determined relative abundances of bacterial taxonomic groups using 16S rRNA amplicon metabarcoding. 16S rRNA analysis showed enrichment of Fusobacteria and Bacteroidetes, and decreased levels of Firmicutes and Proteobacteria in CMS1. A more detailed analysis of bacterial taxa using non-human RNA-sequencing reads uncovered distinct bacterial communities associated with each molecular subtype. The most highly enriched species associated with CMS1 included Fusobacterium hwasookii and Porphyromonas gingivalis. CMS2 was enriched for Selenomas and Prevotella species, while CMS3 had few significant associations. Targeted quantitative PCR validated these findings and also showed an enrichment of Fusobacterium nucleatum, Parvimonas micra and Peptostreptococcus stomatis in CMS1. In this study, we have successfully associated individual bacterial species to CRC subtypes for the first time.
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“A study associated F nucleatum with the consensus molecular subtype 1 of CRC,32”
From Influence of the Gut Microbiome, Diet, and Environment on Risk of Colorectal Cancer (2020) · cites this paper as [32]
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“…are actively exploring the roles of Peptostreptococcus anaerobius (Long et al., 2019; Liu et al., 2024; Piccinno et al., 2025), Parvimonas micra (Purcell et al., 2017; Yachida et al., 2019; Glazunova et al., 2025; Piccinno et al., 2025), Enterococcus faecalis (Golin ́ ska, 2013; Ferchichi et…”
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Metadata
- Authors
- Purcell, R. V., Visnovska, M., Biggs, P. J., Schmeier, S., & Frizelle, F. A.
- Affiliations
- University of Otago (NZ)
- Massey University (NZ)
- Corresponding author
- Purcell, Rachel V.
- Venue
- Scientific Reports
- Published
- 2017-09-14
- Volume
- 7
- Issue
- 1
- Pages
- 11590-11590
- ISSN
- 2045-2322 (ISSN-L)
- PMC
- PMC5599497
- OpenAlex
- W2950036522
- Cited by
- 227
- References
- 60
- Citations by year
- 2026: 16 · 2025: 24 · 2024: 21 · 2023: 34 · 2022: 33 · 2021: 40 · 2020: 20 · 2019: 21 · 2018: 17
- FWCI
- 6.48
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- gold
- doi.org
- Locations
- Scientific Reports (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- bioRxiv (Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory) (acceptedVersion)
- PubMed Central (publishedVersion, cc-by)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- DOAJ (DOAJ: Directory of Open Access Journals) (submittedVersion)
- Funders
- Hugh Green Foundation
- Maurice and Phyllis Paykel Trust
- Colorectal Surgical Society of Australia and New Zealand
- Topics
- Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Molecular Biology › Gut microbiota and health
- Health Sciences › Dentistry › Periodontics › Oral microbiology and periodontitis research
- Health Sciences › Medicine › Oncology › Colorectal Cancer Treatments and Studies
- Keywords
- colorectal cancer, gut microbiota, consensus molecular subtypes, Fusobacterium nucleatum, Porphyromonas gingivalis, Prevotella, bacterial taxa, tumor molecular subtypes, 16S rRNA metabarcoding
- MeSH terms
- Gastrointestinal Microbiome, Adult, Aged, Aged, 80 and over, Female, Humans, Male, Middle Aged, RNA, Ribosomal, 16S, Biomarkers, Tumor, Colorectal Neoplasms, Reproducibility of Results, Gene Expression Regulation, Neoplastic, Computational Biology, Gene Expression Profiling, Metagenome, Metagenomics, Transcriptome
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