Letter to the Editor
Copyright ©The Author(s) 2025. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Gastroenterol. Jun 7, 2025; 31(21): 106057
Published online Jun 7, 2025. doi: 10.3748/wjg.v31.i21.106057
Microbiota geography in the colorectal carcinoma microenvironment: A spatiotemporal atlas of colonic mucosal microbial niche reconstruction
Zong-Qiang Han, Li-Na Wen
Zong-Qiang Han, Department of Laboratory Medicine, Beijing Xiaotangshan Hospital, Beijing 102211, China
Li-Na Wen, Department of Clinical Nutrition, Beijing Shijitan Hospital, Capital Medical University, Beijing 100038, China
Author contributions: Wen LN designed the research and revised the letter; Han ZQ and Wen LN performed the research and analyzed the data; Han ZQ wrote the letter.
Supported by the Beijing High Level Public Health Technology Talent Construction Project, No. backbone-03-04.
Conflict-of-interest statement: All the authors report no relevant conflicts of interest for this article.
Open Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: https://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Li-Na Wen, Associate Research Scientist, Department of Clinical Nutrition, Beijing Shijitan Hospital, Capital Medical University, No. 10 Tieyi Road, Yangfangdian Street, Haidian District, Beijing 100038, China. wenlina3074@bjsjth.cn
Received: February 20, 2025
Revised: March 29, 2025
Accepted: April 18, 2025
Published online: June 7, 2025
Processing time: 106 Days and 20.7 Hours
Abstract

A case-control study on the differences in colonic mucosa-associated microbiotas between patients with and without colorectal cancer (CRC) in the Indonesian population was recently published. The geographical distribution characteristics of the gut microbiota in the carcinogenic microenvironment are closely related to disease progression. Therefore, the results of that study are of great significance for determining the pathogenesis of CRC in the Indonesian region and for clinically diagnosing and treating CRC. While acknowledging the strengths of the study, its limitations should also be addressed. Future case-control studies of the gut microbiota based on specific populations should be further refined to provide more optimized guidance for clinical precision treatment.

Keywords: Microbiota; Colorectal cancer; Colon mucosa; Geography; Case control study

Core Tip: A clinical study from a specific Indonesian population showed that the colonic mucosal microbial composition differs significantly between patients with and without colorectal cancer at the genus and species levels. The combination of Fusobacterium nucleatum and Bacteroides fragilis may serve as a diagnostic biomarker for colorectal cancer. The area under the curve for combined diagnosis was 0.786 (95% confidence interval: 0.671-0.900), with 82.8% sensitivity and 50% specificity. Although the study yielded significant reference results, it was relatively limited in sample size, disease staging, dietary factors, and functional studies of the differential microbiota. Future research should improve on these aspects.