Studies on the pathogenicity of Fusobacterium nucleatum isolated from colorectal cancer

2020 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 19K18981
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Early-Career Scientists
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Review Section: Basic Section 57020:Oral pathobiological science-related
• Research Institution: Kyodo Milk Industry Co., Ltd.
• Principal Investigator: Sugi Yutaka 協同乳業株式会社研究所, 研究所, 研究員 (30646013)
• Project Period (FY): 2019-04-01 – 2021-03-31
• Keywords: 大腸癌 / Fusobacterium nucleatum

Outline of Final Research Achievements

In this study, we analyzed the genome of F. nucleatum to clarify the differences between colon cancer isolates and oral indigenous strains. We detected several genes that all colorectal cancer isolates possessed, but salivary isolates did not possess at all. To increase the number of F. nucleatum isolates from colorectal cancer, we newly cultured F. nucleatum isolates from clinical specimens and obtained 5 isolates from colorectal cancer and 14 isolates from saliva.

Free Research Field

分子生物学

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

大腸癌のF. nucleatumが口腔に由来することから、口腔内のF. nucelatumを調べることは大腸癌の増悪化や再発防止に有用と考えられるが、中には単なる口腔常在菌として大腸癌とは関係のないF. nucleatumもいるようである。従って“大腸癌のF. nucelatum”とそうでないF. nucleatumの違いが明らかにできれば、口腔汚染指標に用いるなどして大腸癌リスク軽減のための検査方法の確立に役立てられると考えている。