Riassunto analitico
Colorectal cancer (CRC) is the third leading cause of cancer-related deaths in Europe. The increase in the incidence of this pathology in young peolple in the last decades, has confirmed the heterogeneity of the pathology, as genet factors do not justify its causality.
In particular, laterality appears to be a crucial factor in determining disease progression, as well as influencing prognosis and disease management. The difference between left- and right-side colon cancer is currently the subject of widespread discussion as a result of differences in biological and molecular characteristics, response to treatment, and microbiome composition.
This study aims to investigate the biology of CRC sidedness by evaluating the expression of inflammatory cytokines including IL6, MCP1 and TLR5 in healthy and tumor tissue and in left- and right-sided patients.
The same biopsies were used to study the tumor associated microbiota looking for the difference between left- and right-sided patients, as well as in the fecal samples of the same patients collected before the surgery. Similarly, we decided to also consider the salivary microbiota, additionaly taking into consideration a group of healthy patients.
Our study revealed no difference between patients with left- and right-sided tumors, but there was significant difference in the expression of the inflammatory cytokines IL6 and MCP1 in healthy and tumor tissue.
Except for the differential abundance analysis, which showed significantly higher Lactobacillus levels in patients with left CRC, the examination of the gut microbiota did not reveal any significant differences between the two patient cohorts.
The tumor associated microbiota has been demonstrated to be significantly less rich in species compared to gut microbiota and don’t showing significant appreciable alteration.
Finally, there was a significant difference between the salivary microbiota of healthy patients and those with the left-sided CRC.
Collectively, our results can be used as a starting point for more in-depth studies regarding the molecular characterization and analysis of microbiomes since they could provide precious data that can be used in clinic activity.
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