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Updated: Oct 15, 2025

A Method to Define the Effects of Environmental Enrichment on Colon Microbiome Biodiversity in a Mouse Colon Tumor Model
Published on: February 28, 2018
Influence of the microbiota on epigenetics in colorectal cancer
Danfeng Sun1, Yingxuan Chen1, Jing-Yuan Fang1
1Division of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, Key Laboratory of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, Ministry of Health, State Key Laboratory for Oncogenes and Related Genes, Shanghai Institute of Digestive Disease, Renji Hospital, School of Medicine, Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Shanghai 200001, China.
Abstract:
Colorectal cancer is one of the most common malignancies and is the second leading cause of cancer death worldwide. Generally, there are three categories of colorectal cancer development mechanism-genetic, epigenetic and aberrant immunological signaling pathways-all of which may be initiated by an imbalanced gut microbiota. Epigenetic modifications enable host cells to change gene expression without modifying the gene sequence. The microbiota can interact with the host genome dynamically through the interface presented by epigenetic modifications. In particular, bacterially derived short-chain fatty acids have been identified as one clear link in the interaction of the microbiota with host epigenetic pathways. This review discusses recent findings relating to the cross talk between the microbiota and epigenetic modifications in colorectal cancer.
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