Alimentary TractAssociation between intraepithelial Escherichia coli and colorectal cancer☆
Section snippets
Patients
This study was performed at the IVth Medical Clinic, Charité University Hospital, Berlin, Germany, with prior approval of the institutional review board and the patients' informed consent. One hundred twenty-five consecutive patients underwent colonoscopy for screening or staging for colorectal malignancies. Patients with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) or macroscopic signs of inflammation were excluded. None of the patients had a history of familial polyposis, and none received antibiotics 8
Results
No bacteria were detected in any of the mucosal biopsy specimens from 30 of 31 asymptomatic controls and 24 of 34 symptomatic controls. In contrast, bacterial concentrations between 103 and 105 CFU/μL were detected in at least one biopsy specimen from 55 of 60 patients in the adenoma and carcinoma groups. This difference between the adenoma and carcinoma groups and both normal groups was statistically significant (P < 0.001). In 90% of the positive biopsy specimens from the adenoma and
Discussion
In the early 1970s, the observation of marked geographic variations in the incidence of colorectal cancer, which could not be explained by racial and dietary differences, lead to the hypothesis that intestinal bacteria might play a key role in cancerogenesis.8 However, the etiologic relationship of intestinal bacteria and colorectal cancer could not be definitively documented. In the 1980s and 1990s, extensive investigations linked a permanent colonization of the gastric mucosa with H. pylori
Acknowledgements
The authors thank MWG-BIOTECH GmbH for lending the LI-COR sequencer throughout the duration of the study and H. Poczewski for her excellent technical assistance in creating immunohistological stainings.
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Address requests for reprints to: Alexander Swidsinski, M.D., IV Medizinische Klinik der Charité, Gastroenterology, Humboldt Universität, 10098 Berlin, Germany. Fax: (49) 30-2802-89-78.