Abstract
Microbiome-based signatures of disease have focused primarily on the bacterial component of the microbiome for numerous reasons, including ease of sample preparation and depth of the curated bacterial database. However, even more numerous than bacteria are the bacteriophages of the viral portion of the microbiome, which have emerged with identifiable disease signatures in other diseases, such as inflammatory bowel diseases. Here, G. D. Hannigan, M. B. Duhaime, M. T. Ruffin, IV, C. C. Koumpouras, and P. D. Schloss (mBio 9:e02248-18, https://doi.org/10.1128/mBio.02248-18) present a study that explores the potential bacteriophage signatures in patients with colorectal cancer (CRC) and the associated changes in bacterial signatures. Sampling from a cross section of 60 patients at different stages of CRC in addition to 30 healthy controls, this study highlights the need for greater exploration into the virome, including the "dark matter" of diverse forms that viruses assume in the gastrointestinal tract.
Highlights
Microbiome-based signatures of disease have focused primarily on the bacterial component of the microbiome for numerous reasons, including ease of sample preparation and depth of the curated bacterial database
Survival rates after colorectal cancer (CRC) diagnosis have increased over the last decade due to multiple efforts by the media and physicians to encourage routine colonoscopies
Detection of microbiome-based signatures of CRC have held promise as a complementary approach to colonoscopies because (i) shifts in gut bacterial community structure can often precede cellular changes in the host and (ii) the signatures of these shifts can be noninvasively measured in the stool
Summary
Microbiome-based signatures of disease have focused primarily on the bacterial component of the microbiome for numerous reasons, including ease of sample preparation and depth of the curated bacterial database. The current study by Hannigan et al [2] takes on this important challenge by asking whether the viral fraction of the microbiome (“virome”) may be an important influence in the human CRC microbiome and whether there are identifiable signatures between healthy individuals and those with precancerous and cancerous polyps.
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