Fusobacterium species are distinctly associated with patients with Lynch syndrome colorectal cancer

Summary: Accumulating evidence demonstrates clear correlation between the gut microbiota and sporadic colorectal cancer (CRC). Despite this, there is limited understanding of the association between the gut microbiota and CRC in Lynch Syndrome (LS), a hereditary type of CRC. Here, we analyzed fecal shotgun metagenomic and targeted metabolomic of 71 Japanese LS subjects. A previously published Japanese sporadic CRC cohort, which includes non-LS controls, was utilized as a non-LS cohort (n = 437). LS subjects exhibited reduced microbial diversity and low-Faecalibacterium enterotypes compared to non-LS. Patients with LS-CRC had higher levels of Fusobacterium nucleatum and fap2. Differential fecal metabolites and functional genes suggest heightened degradation of lysine and arginine in LS-CRC. A comparison between LS and non-LS subjects prior to adenoma formation revealed distinct fecal metabolites of LS subjects. These findings suggest that the gut microbiota plays a more responsive role in CRC tumorigenesis in patients with LS than those without LS.