title: Microbiome and colorectal carcinoma: insights from germ-free and conventional animal models.
abstract: The mammalian microbiota plays a crucial role in the pathogenesis of many diseases. Thanks to recent advances in metagenomics, proteomics, and metabolomics, microbiome composition and metabolic activity can now be studied in detail. Results obtained by such fascinating and provocative studies would be meaningless without considering the perspective of the whole organism. Our work using gnotobiology as the major tool to unravel the mechanisms of host-microbe interaction has demonstrated the crucial role of microbiota in the initiation and progression of inflammation-associated colorectal neoplasia. Carcinogenesis in the gut is driven by the presence of potentially harmful microbes or by lack of protective ones, by the production of carcinogens generated by microbes, and by the induction of inflammation and modulation of the immune system. Here, we review these mechanisms with special emphasis on those where gnotobiology has yielded important insights.
authors.affiliation: From the *Institute of Microbiology, Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic, Prague and Novy Hradek, Czech Republic; †First Faculty of Medicine, Institute of Immunology and Microbiology, Charles University in Prague, Prague, Czech Republic; and ‡Department of Pathology, Immunology, and Laboratory Medicine, College of Medicine, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL.
authors.forename: Helena
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Tlaskalova-Hogenova
authors.forename: Luca
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Vannucci
authors.forename: Klara
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Klimesova
authors.forename: Renata
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Stepankova
authors.forename: Jiri
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Krizan
authors.forename: Miloslav
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Kverka
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D015179:Colorectal Neoplasms / Q000382:microbiology*; D004195:Disease Models, Animal; D005856:Germ-Free Life; D006801:Humans; D007249:Inflammation / Q000382:microbiology; D064307:Microbiota; D059016:Tumor Microenvironment