Gene Regulation Laboratory, National Institute of Immunology, New Delhi, 110067, India.
Department of Zoology, Maharshi Dayanand University, Rohtak, 124001, India.
Appl Microbiol Biotechnol. 2021 Oct;105(20):7651-7660. doi: 10.1007/s00253-021-11582-7. Epub 2021 Sep 27.
Among gut microbiota-derived metabolites, trimethylamine-N-oxide (TMAO) is receiving increased attention due to its possible role in the carcinogenesis of colorectal cancer (CRC). In spite of numerous reports implicating TMAO with CRC, there is a lack of empirical mechanistic evidences to concretize the involvement of TMAO in the carcinogenesis of CRC. Possible mechanisms such as inflammation, oxidative stress, DNA damage, and protein misfolding by TMAO have been discussed in this review in the light of the latest advancements in the field. This review is an attempt to discuss the probable correlation between TMAO and CRC but this linkage can be concretized only once we get sufficient empirical evidences from the mechanistic studies. We believe, this review will augment the understanding of linking TMAO with CRC and will motivate researchers to move towards mechanistic study for reinforcing the idea of implicating TMAO with CRC causation. KEY POINTS: • TMAO is a gut bacterial metabolite which has been implicated in CRC in recent years. • The valid mechanistic approach of CRC causation by TMAO is unknown. • The article summarizes the possible mechanisms which need to be explored for validation.
在肠道微生物衍生的代谢物中，氧化三甲胺（TMAO）因其在结直肠癌（CRC）发生中的可能作用而受到越来越多的关注。尽管有许多报告表明 TMAO 与 CRC 有关，但缺乏具体说明 TMAO 参与 CRC 发生的经验性机制证据。在这篇综述中，根据该领域的最新进展，讨论了 TMAO 可能涉及的炎症、氧化应激、DNA 损伤和蛋白质错误折叠等机制。本综述试图讨论 TMAO 与 CRC 之间可能存在的相关性，但只有从机制研究中获得足够的经验证据，这种相关性才能具体化。我们相信，这篇综述将提高人们对 TMAO 与 CRC 联系的理解，并促使研究人员朝着机制研究的方向发展，以加强将 TMAO 与 CRC 因果关系联系起来的想法。要点：• TMAO 是一种肠道细菌代谢物，近年来已被证实与 CRC 有关。• TMAO 导致 CRC 的有效机制方法尚不清楚。• 本文总结了需要探索的可能机制，以验证 TMAO 在 CRC 发生中的作用。
