Rahimi-Kolour Haniye, Eshaghi Hedyeh Sadat, Shams Elahe, Sanjabi Fatemeh, Nobili Stefania, Raeisi Hamideh, Sadeghi Amir, Nazemalhosseini-Mojarad Ehsan, Fatemi Nayeralsadat
Basic and Molecular Epidemiology of Gastrointestinal Disorders Research Center, Research Institute for Gastroenterology and Liver Diseases, Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sciences, Tehran, Iran.
Department of Medical Biotechnology, School F Allied Medicine, Iran University of Medical, Tehran, Iran.
World J Microbiol Biotechnol. 2025 Jul 28;41(8):288. doi: 10.1007/s11274-025-04457-w.
The gastrointestinal (GI) tract hosts a complex microbiota that plays a crucial role in maintaining health and contributing to disease, including cancer. This narrative review explores the role of gut microbiota in driving epigenetic modifications associated with GI cancers. We highlight key bacterial phyla such as Firmicutes, Bacteroidetes, Actinobacteria, Proteobacteria, and Fusobacteria, and explain how their representative species, including Fusobacterium nucleatum, Bacteroides fragilis, Lactobacillus sp., and Escherichia coli, influence host gene expression through mechanisms such as DNA methylation, histone modification, and regulation of non-coding RNAs. Microbial metabolites, including short-chain fatty acids (SCFAs) like butyrate and secondary bile acids, affect the activity of epigenetic regulators such as DNA methyltransferases and histone deacetylases and have been implicated in the development of colorectal, gastric, liver, pancreatic, and esophageal cancers. By integrating recent scientific findings, this review underscores the potential of targeting microbiota-driven epigenetic pathways to improve prevention and treatment strategies for GI cancers.
胃肠道中存在着复杂的微生物群，它们在维持健康以及引发包括癌症在内的疾病方面发挥着关键作用。这篇叙述性综述探讨了肠道微生物群在驱动与胃肠道癌症相关的表观遗传修饰中的作用。我们重点介绍了厚壁菌门、拟杆菌门、放线菌门、变形菌门和梭杆菌门等关键细菌门类，并解释了它们的代表性物种，包括具核梭杆菌、脆弱拟杆菌、乳酸杆菌属和大肠杆菌，如何通过DNA甲基化、组蛋白修饰和非编码RNA调控等机制影响宿主基因表达。微生物代谢产物，包括丁酸等短链脂肪酸（SCFAs）和次级胆汁酸，会影响DNA甲基转移酶和组蛋白脱乙酰酶等表观遗传调节因子的活性，并与结直肠癌、胃癌、肝癌、胰腺癌和食管癌的发生有关。通过整合近期的科学发现，本综述强调了靶向微生物群驱动的表观遗传途径以改善胃肠道癌症预防和治疗策略的潜力。
