Using FIT for microbiome analysis in CRC screening

Colorectal cancer (CRC) is a challenging public health problem which successful treatment depends on the stage at diagnosis. CRC-specific microbiome signatures have been proposed as a marker for CRC detection.For CRC screening programs, it would be useful to analyze the microbiome in the samples collected in fecal immunochemical test (FIT) tubes for fecal occult blood testing. Therefore, we investigated the impact of FIT tubes and stabilization buffer on the microbial community structure evaluated in stool samples and compared the detected communities to those of fresh-frozen samples, highlighting previously published cancer-specific communities.