Can Bacteria Cause Cancer

Have you, or anyone youve ever talked to, talked about cancer? In that
conversation, did you discuss some of the reasons as to why cancer cells grow? Well
some scientists think they may have found the reasons that some cancers grow,
because of bacteria that cause inflammation of the colorectal system, and cut off
blood and oxygen flow. I believe that this swelling and loss of blood and oxygen can
cause spurs of growth in tumors, malignant or benign.
Its become pretty obvious that the commensal microbiota affects
inflammation and, through that or through other mechanisms, affects
carcinogenesis, Says Giorgio Trinchieri MD, of the National Cancer Institute. We
clearly see shifts in the [microbial] community that precede development of
tumors, says microbiologist and immunologist Patrick Schlossn PhD, who studies
colon cancer at the University of Michigan. In 2014 Peer Bork PhD of the European
Molecular Biology Laboratory, performed sequencing of stools of people with and
without colorectal cancer, and could tell which people had cancer because of twenty
two different bacteria in the persons stool. Studies like that one, show that the
scientific community is starting to believe certain bacteria are more likely to cause
cancer cells to grow.
The belief that bacteria could cause the rapid growth of cancer began in the
1970s, when Australian pathologist J. Robin Warren began to notice that curved
bacteria often appeared in stomach tissue biopsies taken from patients with chronic
gastritis, an inflammation of the stomach lining that often precedes the
development of stomach cancer. This shows that some bacteria can speed up the
growth of cancer and tumors. The bacteria that was almost always found in patients
colorectal system was H. pylori. Dr. Warrens partner, Barry J. Marshall, infected
himself with the bacteria, and charted his experience with gastritis.
The rush of experiments about this specific topic didnt start until the turn of
the century. It started off with Shoichi Kado of the Yakult Central Institute for
Microbiological Research in Japan. They initially started experimenting on mice.
During the experiment, they found that a strain of mice that were
immunocompromised, and had started to rapidly develop colon cancer. In 2003
MITs Susan Erdman and a group of doctors found that they could cause
immunocompromised mice to get cancer. They would do that by injecting them with
the bacteria Helicobacter hepaticus. This just shows that certain bacteria can speed
up cancer.
In conclusion, the evidence says that certain bacteria can cause cancer cells
to reproduce at a higher rate. Doctors have proven that they could identify which
people had cancer based on the bacteria in their stools. If they can use that

information to possibly find a way to fight cancer better or even a discover a cure,
that would solve many of the worlds problems. This relates to my class, because we
have talked about different cancers, and this information could lead to a possible
cure to cancer.