Epidemiological insights on the gut microbiota in colorectal cancer, with Dr. Mingyang Song ScD
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This episode features Dr. Mingyang Song ScD from Harvard University (USA), speaking about epidemiological evidence connecting the gut microbiota to colorectal cancer (CRC) and whether the evidence supports the gut microbiota as a ‘driver’ or a ‘passenger. Dr. Song explains how he and colleagues studied the gut microbiome in a subset of people from the Nurses’ Health Study. It’s known that adenoma removal reduces CRC risk, but doesn’t eliminate it. Does the gut microbiome contribute to this remaining risk? The researchers found that many years after adenoma removal, individuals had a different gut microbiota compared with healthy controls, indicating that the microbiome profile is not fully restored by adenoma removal. People with past adenoma removal had a gut microbiota that overlapped with that of current CRC patients, with the caveat that lots of heterogeneity was observed. Diet and lifestyle also correlate with both CRC development and gut microbiome composition, with some of the main factors reducing CRC risk being dietary fiber, fruits, vegetables, whole grains, and calcium. These and other healthy lifestyle factors were associated with fewer of the gut microbial members typically seen in CRC. Next, prospective studies are needed to determine whether gut microbiota changes truly precede CRC and independently contribute to risk. This line of research could also lead to a more tailored approach to CRC screening, with risk factors being taken into account.
Episode abbreviations and links:
- Study on a subset of participants in the Nurses’ Health Study, showing those who previously experienced adenoma removal had gut microbial similarities to CRC: Long-lasting gut microbiome and fecal metabolome alterations after colorectal adenoma removal and their relationship to colorectal cancer
About Dr. Mingyang Song ScD:
Mingyang Song, MBBS, ScD is Associate Professor of Clinical Epidemiology and Nutrition and Faculty Director of Graduate Studies in the Department of Epidemiology at the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, and Associate Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School. His research focuses on two complementary areas: (1) integrating large-scale prospective cohort studies with biomarker-driven clinical trials to develop nutrition- and microbiome-based approaches for cancer prevention and treatment; and (2) combining electronic health records with molecular and spatial profiling to enable precision risk prediction and personalized colonoscopy screening and surveillance. Dr. Song has received numerous honors, including the NextGen Star Award from the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) and the Young Investigator Award from the American Gastroenterological Association (AGA). He currently serves as the Vice Chair of the Obesity, Metabolism and Nutrition (OMN) Section at AGA, Statistics Associate Editor of Gut, Associate Editor of the Journal of the National Cancer Institute (JNCI), and Editor of the European Journal of Epidemiology.
