Bacterial Profiling of Colorectal Cancer Biopsies: A Culture-Based Study in Indian Patients

The role of microorganisms that initiate and facilitate the process of colorectal cancer has become clear now, as cited in various research reports. More information is needed about mechanisms through which the microbial community or single bacterium promotes carcinogenesis. The present work deals with the isolation and identification of bacteria from 9 colorectal cancer biopsy samples and 9 adjacent biopsy samples. Different media, such as Brain heart infusion (BHI), Anaerobic Basal Agar (ABA), and Trypticase soy agar (TSA), and culture conditions have been manipulated to maximize the tapping of bacteria residing in biopsy samples. A total of 75 bacteria were isolated from the tumorus and adjacent site. Enterococcus, Escherichia, Klebsiella, Shigella, Citrobactror, Morganella and Veillonella have been found to be enriched in most of the cancerous biopsies, while biopsies collected from adjacent tissues had Escherichia,Shigella, Enterococcus, and Streptococcus bacteria. A culture-based approach to determining bacterial diversity has its own advantage, which allows the study of a single bacterium to understand the events leading to the development of intestinal carcinogenesis. This culture-based approach may provide novel insight into the pathology and potentially lead to new therapeutic modalities targeting the specific bacteria implicated in the inflammation and carcinogenesis of colorectal cancer.