Gut Microbiome Could Remain Disrupted For Over a Decade After Polyp Removal
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Add ScienceAlert on Google (Kateryna Kon/Science Photo Library/Getty Images) A technique commonly used to prevent cancer might not be as effective as we thought – and a new study might have found the reason why.
It turns out that the trillions of microbes that call your gut home could be to blame. The research suggests that the gut microbiome could remain disrupted for a decade or more after the common procedure, in ways that keep cancer risk elevated. Colorectal cancer (CRC) is the second-leading cause of cancer-related deaths in the world, but thankfully, risk factors for this cancer can be caught early with regular screening.
Colonoscopies can reveal benign growths called adenomas in the colon. Since these can become cancerous later on, they're typically removed as a precaution. However, a patient's risk of developing CRC often seems to remain elevated even after adenoma removal.
Exactly why this is the case has remained unclear, but a new study, led by researchers at the Harvard School of Public Health, may have linked it to the gut microbiome. "Our study was the first to address whether gut microbial and metabolic alterations are still detectable many years after adenoma removal," says Mingyang Song, epidemiologist at Harvard and corresponding author of the study, which has been published in the journal Cell Host & Microbe. "The answer is yes – suggesting that removing an adenoma doesn't return the gut to a low-risk state, and that the gut microbiome may therefore be a significant biological contributor to sustained CRC risk."
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