The potential role of gut microbiota outer membrane vesicles in colorectal cancer

Ran Meng; Minmin Zeng; Ying Ji; Xinxiang Huang; Min Xu

doi:10.3389/fmicb.2023.1270158

The potential role of gut microbiota outer membrane vesicles in colorectal cancer

Front Microbiol. 2023 Nov 7:14:1270158. doi: 10.3389/fmicb.2023.1270158. eCollection 2023.

Authors

Ran Meng^{1

2}, Minmin Zeng², Ying Ji², Xinxiang Huang², Min Xu^{1

3}

Affiliations

¹ Department of Gastroenterology, Affiliated Hospital of Jiangsu University, Zhenjiang, Jiangsu, China.
² Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, School of Medicine, Jiangsu University, Zhenjiang, Jiangsu, China.
³ Institute of Digestive Diseases, Jiangsu University, Zhenjiang, Jiangsu, China.

Abstract

Colorectal cancer (CRC) is a common malignant digestive tract tumor in colorectal regions. Considerable evidence now shows that the gut microbiota have essential roles in CRC occurrence and development. Most Gram-negative bacteria release outer membrane vesicles (OMVs) via outer membrane blistering, which contain specific cargoes which interact with host cells via intercellular communications, host immune regulation, and gut microbiota homeostasis. Studies have also shown that OMVs selectively cluster near tumor cells, thus cancer treatment strategies based on OMVs have attracted considerable research attention. However, little is known about the possible impact of gut microbiota OMVs in CRC pathophysiology. Therefore, in this review, we summarize the research progress on molecular composition and function of OMV, and review the microbial dysbiosis in CRC. We then focus on the potential role of gut microbiota OMVs in CRC. Finally, we examine the clinical potential of OMVs in CRC treatment, and their main advantages and challenges in tumor therapy.

Keywords: colorectal cancer; gut homeostasis; gut microbiota; immune regulation; outer membrane vesicles.

Publication types

Review

Grants and funding

The author(s) declare financial support was received for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article. This research was funded by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (82072754), Jiangsu Key R&D Program Social Development project, China (BE2018689), Research Programs of Jiangsu Commission of Health, China (M2020011).