Abstract
Fusobacterium nucleatum (Fn) is frequently found in colorectal cancers (CRCs). High loads of Fn DNA are detected in CRC tissues with microsatellite instability-high (MSI-H), or with the CpG island hypermethylation phenotype (CIMP). Fn infection is also associated with the inflammatory tumor microenvironment of CRC. A subtype of CRC exhibits inflammation-associated microsatellite alterations (IAMA), which are characterized by microsatellite instability-low (MSI-L) and/or an elevated level of microsatellite alterations at selected tetra-nucleotide repeats (EMAST). Here we describe two independent CRC cohorts in which heavy or moderate loads of Fn DNA are associated with MSI-H and L/E CRC respectively. We also show evidence that Fn produces factors that induce γ-H2AX, a hallmark of DNA double strand breaks (DSBs), in the infected cells.
Main text
Fn is a common resident in the human gut mucosa and is an anaerobic bacterium that colonizes CRC tumors more frequently than adjacent normal mucosa. To date, most epidemiological studies using 16s rRNA sequencing or metagenomic sequencing methods have detected an increased level of Fn DNA and/or RNA in colorectal adenoma/carcinoma tissues or stools from tumor bearing patients, as compared with normal controls [1]. Furthermore, Fn infection is associated with specific subtypes of CRC that exhibits CIMP or MSI-H [2, 3]. These observations might suggest that Fn infection may contribute to a serrated pathway of CRC development [4]. On the other hand, tumor tissue infected with Fn exhibits an inflamed tumor microenvironment, rich in inflammatory factors such as IL6 or reactive oxygen species [5], leading to the assumption that Fn infection might also contribute to the generation of IAMA or L/E positive CRC [6,7,8]. Despite a strong association between Fn infection and colorectal cancer, there has been no evidence of Fn infection damaging the DNA of colon tissues. In this study, we show evidence that a degree of Fn infection may determine molecular characteristics of CRC, and that Fn infection may be carcinogenic.
A total of 304 cases of unselected sporadic CRC from North Carolina [9, 10] were analyzed for MSI-H, MSI-L and EMAST [11, 12]. The amount of Fn DNA per nanogram of tumor tissue DNA was also determined by qPCR (see Additional file 1: Additional Materials and Methods). Thirty-eight cases (12.5%), 129 cases (42.4%) and 137 cases (45.1%) exhibited MSI-H, L/E and MSS, respectively. Fn DNA was detected in 116 of 304 (38%) CRC tumor tissues, ranging from 0.002 to 880 pg/ng of tissue DNA. When the quantity of Fn DNA was compared among MSI-H, L/E and MSS CRC, the Fn DNA load in MSI-H was the highest (MSI-H > L/E, p = 0.028; MSI-H > MSS, p = 0.000085) and the Fn DNA load in L/E was higher than in MSS (L/E > MSS, p = 0.028) (Fig. 1a). We then determined whether Fn infection was associated with MSI-H and/or L/E compared to MSS using a logistic regression model. In univariate analysis, Fn infection was associated with MSI-H at an odds ratio (OR) of 4.21 (p < 0.001) and was also associated with L/E at an OR of 1.74 (p = 0.03). When adjusted for sex, age, tumor location and tumor stage, MSI-H (OR = 3.99, 95%CI 1.85–8.9, p < 0.001) and L/E (OR = 1.68, 95% CI 1.00–2.84, p = 0.05) were independently associated with Fn infection (Fig. 2). To validate the above results, we analyzed 174 cases of CRC from Mie, Japan. Thirteen (7.4%), 69, (39.7%) and 92 cases (52.9%) exhibited MSI-H, L/E and MSS, respectively. Fn DNA was detected in 131 of 174 (75%) tumors, ranging from 0.0003 to 200 pg/ug tissue DNA. The quantity of Fn DNA was highest in MSH-H compared to L/E (p = 0.02) or MSS (p = 0.0005), and the Fn load was higher in L/E than MSS (p = 0.015) (Fig. 1b). Fn infection was associated with MSI-H at OR = 13.83 (p = 0.007) and with L/E at OR = 2.35 (p = 0.02) in univariate logistic regression analysis. Multivariate analysis adjusted by sex, age. tumor location and stage showed that MSI-H (OR = 13.67, 95% CI 1.63–1789.13, p = 0.01) and L/E (OR = 2.23, 95% CI 1.05–4.95, p = 0.04) were significantly associated with Fn infection compared to MSS (Fig. 2).
To explore whether Fn infection causes cellular DNA damage (see Additional file 1: Additional Materials and Methods), we first determined the ability of human colon cancer cells to support infection. When each of 16 human colon cancer cell lines was co-cultured with Fn in 5% CO2/21% O2 conditions, Fn grew aerobically in 12 of 16 cell lines (Fig. 3a), but not in 4 cell lines (Fig. 3b). Furthermore, there was a difference in the ability to support aerobic growth of Fn among the 12 cell lines. Some cell lines such as WIDR required less Fn (MOI of 0.001) to initiate successive Fn growth whereas SNU503 required Fn at MOI of 10 (Fig. 3a). The supernatants from co-cultures between WIDR and Fn, where Fn grew, induced γ-H2AX in various colon cancer cell lines (Fig. 3c, d), a hallmark of DNA double strand breaks (DSBs) and suggesting that Fn infection may be carcinogenic to infected tissues, whereas the supernatants from co-cultures between HCEC-1CT and Fn, where Fn growth was not permissive, did not induce γ-H2AX in the exposed colon cancer cell lines (Fig. 3e). Inclusion of the antibiotic metronidazole [13] in co-cultures between WIDR and Fn inhibited Fn growth (Fig. 3f) and abolished the supernatants’ ability to induce γ-H2AX in WIDR cells (Fig. 3g). Finally, the bacterial culture medium where Fn was anaerobically grown induced γ-H2AX in WIDR cells (Fig. 3h), indicating that Fn produces a factor that may cause DNA DSBs in mammalian cells.
Here we provide the initial report showing that heavy or moderate loads of Fn DNA are associated with MSI-H and L/E CRC, respectively. We have also identified evidence that Fn infection may cause DNA damage in infected colon tissues. It remains to be determined whether different degrees of Fn infection directly or indirectly impair DNA mismatch repair differently, resulting in MSI-H or L/E, or whether Fn opportunistically heavily infects MSI-H compared to L/E or MSS CRC. The host cell-dependent aerobic growth of Fn observed in this study may give further clues to answer these questions. However, our observation that Fn infection may trigger cellular DNA damage strongly suggests that Fn infection causes genetic and/or epigenetic alterations, initiating and/or promoting colorectal carcinogenesis. The identity and origin of the DNA damaging factor generated by Fn infection will need to be investigated.
Availability of data and materials
The datasets used and/or analyzed during the current study are available from the corresponding author by reasonable request.
Abbreviations
- Fn :
-
Fusobacterium nucleatum
- CRCs:
-
Colorectal cancers
- MSI-H:
-
Microsatellite instability-high
- CIMP:
-
CpG island hyper-methylation phenotype
- IAMA:
-
Inflammation associated microsatellite alterations
- MSI-L:
-
Microsatellite instability-low
- EMAST:
-
Elevated level of microsatellite alterations at selected tetra-nucleotide repeats
- L/E:
-
MSI-L/EMAST
- OR:
-
Odd ratio
- DSBs:
-
Double strand breaks
- MMR:
-
Mismatch repair
- CI:
-
Confidential interval
- MOI:
-
Multiplicity of infection
- NC:
-
North Carolina
References
Song M, Chan AT, Sun J. Influence of the gut microbiome, diet, and environment on risk of colorectal cancer. Gastroenterology. 2020;158(2):322–40.
Tahara T, Yamamoto E, Suzuki H, Maruyama R, Chung W, Garriga J, et al. Fusobacterium in colonic flora and molecular features of colorectal carcinoma. Cancer Res. 2014;74(5):1311–8.
Mima K, Cao Y, Chan AT, Qian ZR, Nowak JA, Masugi Y, et al. Fusobacterium nucleatum in colorectal carcinoma tissue according to tumor location. Gut. 2016;65(12):1973–80.
Yu J, Chen Y, Fu X, Zhou X, Peng Y, Shi L, et al. Invasive Fusobacterium nucleatum may play a role in the carcinogenesis of proximal colon cancer through the serrated neoplasia pathway. Int J Cancer. 2016;139(6):1318–26.
Kostic AD, Chun E, Robertson L, Glickman JN, Gallini CA, Michaud M, et al. Fusobacterium nucleatum potentiates intestinal tumorigenesis and modulates the tumor-immune microenvironment. Cell Host Microbe. 2013;14(2):207–15.
Koi M, Tseng-Rogenski S, Carethers JM. Inflammation-associated microsatellite alterations: mechanisms and significance in the prognosis of patients with colorectal cancer. World J Gastrointest Oncol. 2018;10(1):1–14.
Tseng-Rogenski SS, Hamaya Y, Choi DY, Carethers JM. Interleukin 6 alters localization of hMSH3, leading to DNA mismatch repair defects in colorectal cancer cells. Gastroenterology. 2015;148(3):579–89.
Tseng-Rogenski SS, Munakata K, Choi DY, Martin PK, Mehta S, Koi M, Zheng W, Zhang Y, Carethers JM. The human DNA MMR protein MSH3 contains nuclear localization and export signals that enable nuclear-cytosolic shuttling in response to inflammation. Mol Cell Biol. 2020;40:e00029–e120.
Gethings-Behncke C, Coleman HG, Jordao HW, Longley DB, Crawford N, Murray LJ, et al. Fusobacterium nucleatum in the colorectum, and its association with cancer risk and survival: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev. 2020;29(3):539–48.
Devaraj B, Lee A, Cabrera BL, Miyai K, Luo L, Ramamoorthy S, et al. Relationship of EMAST and microsatellite instability among patients with rectal cancer. J Gastrointest Surg. 2010;14(10):1521–8.
Munakata K, Koi M, Kitajima T, Tseng-Rogenski S, Uemura M, Matsuno H, et al. Inflammation-associated microsatellite alterations caused by MSH3 dysfunction are prevalent in ulcerative colitis and increase with neoplastic advancement. Clin Transl Gastroenterol. 2019;10(12):e00105.
Raeker MO, Pierre-Charles J, Carethers JM. Tetranucleotide microsatellite mutational behavior assess in real time: implications for future microsatellite panels. Cell Mol Gastroenterol Hepatol. 2020;9:689–704.
Bullman S, Pedamallu CS, Sicinska E, Clancy TE, Zhang X, Cai D, et al. Analysis of Fusobacterium persistence and antibiotic response in colorectal cancer. Science. 2017;358(6369):1443–8.
Acknowledgements
Not applicable for this study.
Funding
This study is supported by the United States Public Health Service (NIH grant CA206010) and the A. Alfred Taubman Medical Research Institute of the University of Michigan (to J.M.C.).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Contributions
YO, MK, and JMC conceived and designed experiments. YO, MK, and RR performed experiments. BM, EK, EMS, JAG, ANM, TOK, YO, TK, YT, and EM contributed reagents/materials/analysis tools. YO, MK, and JMC wrote and edited the manuscript. All authors read and approved the final manuscript.
Corresponding author
Ethics declarations
Ethics approval and consent to participate
The authors are accountable for all aspects of the work in ensuring that questions related to the accuracy or integrity of any part of the work are appropriately investigated and resolved. This retrospective analysis study was conducted according to the World Medical Association Declaration of Helsinki and was approved by the Internal Review Board of the University of North Carolina and Mie University. Since the collection of archival tissue was done through an un-identifiable approach, no consent form was needed for this study. None of the cell lines used in the present study required ethics approval for their use.
Consent for publication
Not applicable for this study.
Competing interests
The authors declare that they have no competing interests.
Additional information
Publisher's Note
Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.
Supplementary information
Additional file 1.
Additional materials and methods
Rights and permissions
Open Access This article is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons licence, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article's Creative Commons licence, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article's Creative Commons licence and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this licence, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/. The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver (http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/) applies to the data made available in this article, unless otherwise stated in a credit line to the data.
About this article
Cite this article
Okita, Y., Koi, M., Takeda, K. et al. Fusobacterium nucleatum infection correlates with two types of microsatellite alterations in colorectal cancer and triggers DNA damage. Gut Pathog 12, 46 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1186/s13099-020-00384-3
Received:
Accepted:
Published:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1186/s13099-020-00384-3