Gut microbiome analysis improved noninvasive colorectal cancer screening

Analysis of the gut microbiome more successfully distinguished healthy individuals from those with precancerous adenomatous polyps and those with invasive colorectal cancer compared with assessment of clinical risk factors and fecal occult blood testing, according to data published in Cancer Prevention Research. By analyzing stool samples from 90 individuals—30 healthy individuals, 30 patients with precancerous adenomatous polyps, and 30 patients with invasive colorectal cancer—Patrick D. Schloss, associate professor in the Department of Microbiology and Immunology at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, and his colleagues established that the composition of the gut microbiome was different for individuals in the three groups. Read more here.