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And this is the proof we have been waiting for. Researchers have just proven the involvement of another bacterium in the development of cancers. And they suspect a very large number of others! Some cancers are therefore bacterial… A real paradigm shift that opens up new ways of treatment and protection that are simpler, lighter or more proven. Lots of good news.
E scherichia coli. This name is certainly not unknown to you. It is one of the most common bacteria in our intestines. Most of the time harmless, however, it can cause mild infections (gastroenteritis, urinary tract infections) when it moves elsewhere. And some of its strains are the cause of serious food poisoning, such as that of the contaminated hamburger in France in 2005; or that of germinated seeds, which poisoned several thousand people in Europe and killed 47, in 2011.
But today, according to a team of Dutch scientists, it could also be responsible for a pathology that is both more common and much more deadly: cancer. Or more precisely, have they just unveiled it, colorectal cancer which, in France alone, killed more than 17,000 people in 2018! “This study is the very first direct proof of the involvement of this bacterium in the mutagenesis of colorectal tumors”, announces Cayetano Pleguezuelos-Manzano, one of the scientists behind this work, published last April.
A TOTAL REVOLUTION OF PARADIGM
Cancer caused by bacteria? While the link is surprising, it’s not entirely new. Barry Marshall, a young Australian doctor, succeeded, after much effort, in getting a landmark study published in The Lancet in 1983 – his work won him the Nobel Prize 22 years later – but which subsequently aroused in his colleagues incomprehension and mockery. And for good reason ! The stomach was then considered a sterile environment and it was believed that ulcers (which can lead many years later to the development of tumors) resulted from too much acidity in the stomach. Apart from the fact that Barry Marshall revealed the presence of a bacterium, Helicobacter pylori, which he demonstrated to be responsible for the appearance of gastric ulcers. Eleven years later and after many other studies confirm its work, the International Agency for Research on Cancer (Circ), the reference body that has compiled a catalog of all carcinogens, will eventually classify Helicobacter pylori as “certain carcinogen”. Which, at the time, was still a UFO. Because if cancers can be caused by tobacco, alcohol, ultraviolet rays … we do not think of bacteria at all.
So today we are witnessing a real paradigm shift. More and more researchers are now convinced: Helicobacter pylori is just the tree that hides the forest, the tip of the iceberg, and many other bacteria play an important role, sometimes even crucial, in the onset or development of tumors.
