State of omics-based microbial diagnostics of CRC

Colorectal cancer (CRC) remains a major burden of cancer-related morbidity and mortality globally, especially when detected at later stages. Early detection through improved and more accessible diagnostics is critical for reducing the severity of CRC. As our understanding of CRC and the microbial in...

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Main Authors: Jerome Prusa, Mark G. Gorelik, Kevin S. Blake, Gautam Dantas
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Taylor & Francis Group 2025-12-01
Series:Gut Microbes
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Online Access:https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/10.1080/19490976.2025.2526132
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author Jerome Prusa
Mark G. Gorelik
Kevin S. Blake
Gautam Dantas
author_facet Jerome Prusa
Mark G. Gorelik
Kevin S. Blake
Gautam Dantas
author_sort Jerome Prusa
collection DOAJ
description Colorectal cancer (CRC) remains a major burden of cancer-related morbidity and mortality globally, especially when detected at later stages. Early detection through improved and more accessible diagnostics is critical for reducing the severity of CRC. As our understanding of CRC and the microbial inhabitants of the gastrointestinal tract continues to improve, it has become increasingly recognized that the bacterial component of the gut microbiome may provide diagnostic utility for detecting CRC. This is because CRC is often accompanied by shifts in bacterial taxa, and the metabolites produced or utilized by the CRC-associated gut bacterial community. Advances in sequencing and metabolite profiling technologies paired with our growing understanding of CRC-associated microbial taxa, present an opportunity for new gut microbiome-based diagnostics. In this narrative review, we discuss bacterial taxa and gut metabolites that have been investigated as predictive features for CRC diagnosis. We aim to highlight the tremendous progress that has been made in identifying gut microbiome-based features and why they should be further explored as potential CRC diagnostics. We also identify challenges that future work must address, including the impact of patient lifestyle, variation in methodology, and nonstandard data management practices. Resolving these areas of study design and implementation is key to understanding the complex bacterial communities and their by-products associated with CRC, and the development of microbial diagnostics that can detect them.
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spelling doaj-art-54a2a47709844d8396002d1e2efc429a2025-08-20T03:28:52ZengTaylor & Francis GroupGut Microbes1949-09761949-09842025-12-0117110.1080/19490976.2025.2526132State of omics-based microbial diagnostics of CRCJerome Prusa0Mark G. Gorelik1Kevin S. Blake2Gautam Dantas3Department of Pathology and Immunology, Division of Laboratory and Genomic Medicine, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, MO, USADepartment of Pathology and Immunology, Division of Laboratory and Genomic Medicine, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, MO, USADepartment of Pathology and Immunology, Division of Laboratory and Genomic Medicine, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, MO, USADepartment of Pathology and Immunology, Division of Laboratory and Genomic Medicine, Washington University School of Medicine, St. Louis, MO, USAColorectal cancer (CRC) remains a major burden of cancer-related morbidity and mortality globally, especially when detected at later stages. Early detection through improved and more accessible diagnostics is critical for reducing the severity of CRC. As our understanding of CRC and the microbial inhabitants of the gastrointestinal tract continues to improve, it has become increasingly recognized that the bacterial component of the gut microbiome may provide diagnostic utility for detecting CRC. This is because CRC is often accompanied by shifts in bacterial taxa, and the metabolites produced or utilized by the CRC-associated gut bacterial community. Advances in sequencing and metabolite profiling technologies paired with our growing understanding of CRC-associated microbial taxa, present an opportunity for new gut microbiome-based diagnostics. In this narrative review, we discuss bacterial taxa and gut metabolites that have been investigated as predictive features for CRC diagnosis. We aim to highlight the tremendous progress that has been made in identifying gut microbiome-based features and why they should be further explored as potential CRC diagnostics. We also identify challenges that future work must address, including the impact of patient lifestyle, variation in methodology, and nonstandard data management practices. Resolving these areas of study design and implementation is key to understanding the complex bacterial communities and their by-products associated with CRC, and the development of microbial diagnostics that can detect them.https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/10.1080/19490976.2025.2526132Colorectal cancermicrobiomemicrobial metabolitesdiagnostics
spellingShingle Jerome Prusa
Mark G. Gorelik
Kevin S. Blake
Gautam Dantas
State of omics-based microbial diagnostics of CRC
Gut Microbes
Colorectal cancer
microbiome
microbial metabolites
diagnostics
title State of omics-based microbial diagnostics of CRC
title_full State of omics-based microbial diagnostics of CRC
title_fullStr State of omics-based microbial diagnostics of CRC
title_full_unstemmed State of omics-based microbial diagnostics of CRC
title_short State of omics-based microbial diagnostics of CRC
title_sort state of omics based microbial diagnostics of crc
topic Colorectal cancer
microbiome
microbial metabolites
diagnostics
url https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/10.1080/19490976.2025.2526132
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AT kevinsblake stateofomicsbasedmicrobialdiagnosticsofcrc
AT gautamdantas stateofomicsbasedmicrobialdiagnosticsofcrc