JSON
Dziubańska-Kusibab PJ, Berger H, Battistini F, Bouwman BAM, Iftekhar A, Katainen R, Cajuso T, Crosetto N, Orozco M, Aaltonen LA, Meyer TF
Nat. Med. 26 (7) 1063-1069 [2020-07-00; online 2020-06-01]
The mucosal epithelium is a common target of damage by chronic bacterial infections and the accompanying toxins, and most cancers originate from this tissue. We investigated whether colibactin, a potent genotoxin1 associated with certain strains of Escherichia coli2, creates a specific DNA-damage signature in infected human colorectal cells. Notably, the genomic contexts of colibactin-induced DNA double-strand breaks were enriched for an AT-rich hexameric sequence motif, associated with distinct DNA-shape characteristics. A survey of somatic mutations at colibactin target sites of several thousand cancer genomes revealed notable enrichment of this motif in colorectal cancers. Moreover, the exact double-strand-break loci corresponded with mutational hot spots in cancer genomes, reminiscent of a trinucleotide signature previously identified in healthy colorectal epithelial cells3. The present study provides evidence for the etiological role of colibactin in human cancer.
PubMed 32483361
DOI 10.1038/s41591-020-0908-2
Crossref 10.1038/s41591-020-0908-2
pii: 10.1038/s41591-020-0908-2