2025 Volume 63 Issue 2 Pages 92-96
Gastrointestinal cancer exhibits high incidence and mortality rates, making early detection critical. Research leveraging gut microbiota as a biomarker has advanced, with methods like 16S amplicon sequencing and shotgun metagenomic analysis being widely employed. However, these methods face challenges related to cost and efficiency. Our team has been investigating gut microbiota genetic markers, which reflect gut conditions and are analyzed using qPCR. We have demonstrated that these markers are associated with the efficacy of immune checkpoint inhibitors and disease progression in hepatocellular carcinoma and colorectal cancer. While clinical implementation requires marker selection and standardization of analyses, this technology holds promise as a new approach for gastrointestinal cancer screening.
