A communicable bacterium known to cause skin ulcer and dental decay may also be associated with bowel cancer, suspect researchers. They do not yet clear whether the microbe, Fusobacterium might cause cancerous changes plays key role in causing the disease. Bowel cancer is the third most widespread cancer after breast and lung cancer.
Previously Fusobacterium has been associated with the inflammatory bowel condition such as ulcerative colitis that is itself a risk aspect for bowel cancer. The early warning signs and symptoms of the condition may include, a constant change in normal bowel habit such as going to toilet more frequently and diarrhea, particularly if someone also bleeding from back passage.
Other symptoms may include, a lump in tummy or lump in the back passage, mysterious deficiency of iron in males or females after menopause and mysterious severe fatigue. There are also certain other aspects which increase the risk such as strong family history of the condition and older age.
Two independent teams of researchers identified the bacterium as a cancer suspect. They unearthed genetic substantiation that the bacteria are more frequently found in bowel tumours than in normal tissue. The first study was carried out a team led by Dr Robert Holt from Simon Fraser University in Canada.
They identified Fusobacterium’s hallmark in RNA present in bowel cancer tumours. RNA is genetic matter analogous to DNA which is occupied in transmitting and translating the genetic code. Another team led by Dr Matthew Meyerson from the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston, US found microbial sequences of DNA indicative of Fusobacterium.
Jointly, both teams examined more than one hundred samples of healthy and cancerous bowel tissue. The findings of both studies reported online in the journal Genome Research.
The study provided evidence about the atmosphere in which bowel cancer grows. Meanwhile people can diminish their risk of bowel cancer by not smoking, cutting down on alcohol, keeping a healthy weight, being active, reducing the amount of red and processed meat in their diet and eating plenty of fibre, explained Sarah Williams from Cancer Research UK.