Abstract
Accumulating evidence indicates that patients with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) have a significantly higher risk of developing different cancers, while the exact mechanism involved is not yet fully understood. Malassezia is a lipid-dependent opportunistic yeast, which colonizes on mammalian skin and internal organs. Also, dysbiosis in fungal communities accompanied by high level of Malassezia are fairly common in inflammatory diseases such as IBD and various cancers. In cancer patients, higher levels of Malassezia are associated with worse prognosis. Once it is ablated in tumor-bearing mice, their prognostic conditions will be improved. Moreover, Malassezia manifests multiple proinflammatory biological properties, such as destruction of epithelial barrier, enrichment of inflammatory factors, and degradation of extracellular matrix (ECM), all of which have been reported to contribute to tumor initiation and malignant progression. Based on these facts, we hypothesize that high levels of Malassezia together with mycobiome dysbiosis in patients with IBD, would aggravate the microecological imbalance, worsen the inflammatory response, and further promote tumorigenesis and deterioration. Herein, we will discuss the detrimental properties of Malassezia and explore the key role of this fungus in the correlation between IBD and cancer, in order to take early surveillance and intervention to minimize the cancer risk in individuals with IBD.
Highlights
Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) belongs to chronic idiopathic gastrointestinal (GI) inflammatory diseases, characterized by imbalance of the intestinal microbiome [1]
Gao and collaborators discovered that there was no significant difference in stool mycobiota diversity between colorectal cancer (CRC) patients and healthy controls, the fungal subgroup Malassezia genus was more enriched in people with CRC, which was positively correlated with tumor progression [48]
The abundance of Malassezia is positively correlated with the pathogenesis and progression of various cancers, suggesting that Malassezia may be a key component to relate inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) with cancer
Summary
Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) belongs to chronic idiopathic gastrointestinal (GI) inflammatory diseases, characterized by imbalance of the intestinal microbiome [1]. Considering current evidence, we hypothesize that the particular enrichment of Malassezia genius in the gut microbiome could promote inflammatory responses in IBD patients through the following microbiological characteristics: disrupting the integrity of epithelial barrier; increasing the release of proinflammatory molecules; and degrading the extracellular matrix (ECM). Continuous inflammatory conditions may result in aggravation and accumulation of DNA damage in cells, which may promote genetic mutations, generate genomic instability, and eventually cause carcinogenesis [134] Another powerful toxic polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon, 7,12dimethylbenz[a] anthracene (DMBA), has been reported to induce inflammation-dependent dermal tumorigenesis in mice through the cGAS-STING signaling pathway [135] and even distant metastasis in mouse models of breast cancer [136]. Based on this, during the process of Malassezia in cancer promotion, inflammation may be the biggest contributor
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