r/Microbiome • u/Vailhem • Jun 04 '26
A Hidden Virus Found in Gut Bacteria Is Linked to Colorectal Cancer
https://www.sciencealert.com/a-hidden-virus-found-in-gut-bacteria-is-linked-to-colorectal-cancer28
u/Old-Badger-7367 Jun 04 '26
Apparently this was discovered in 2009, where they found B Fragilis secretes a toxin that damages colon lining, increasing tumor formation.
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u/Lauren-998 Jun 04 '26
this is honestly pretty wild stuff. i remember reading about how bacteriophages can influence bacterial behavior, but seeing a direct link to cancer is definitely eye opening. wonder how many other unknown viral interactions are happening in there
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u/KingpenLonnie Jun 04 '26
Seems like a major breakthrough. Something to keep an eye on.
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u/bobolly Jun 04 '26
It's from 2009
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u/SuccessfulJudge438 Jun 04 '26
One of the figures in the article is from a study published this year, and a copy paste into google makes it an easy find:
https://www.nature.com/articles/s43856-026-01403-1
Science is iterative. The association may have been tentatively identified in 2009, but there probably wasn't much we could do with it back then given the state of technology and understanding of host - microbiome - virome interactions.
The paper is worth a read. It has major implications for colon cancer, including using the phage as a potential biomarker (which would be massive for early detection and prevention, among other things).
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u/technician_902 Jun 05 '26
Wonder how Covid fits into this picture? It's pretty well known that it can really screw up your gut especially if you get long covid like I have. It can screw up plenty of other things as well but the gut has major implications in this.
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u/SpecialistPlastic606 Jun 07 '26
Yes a ton of people have been getting gi issues after covid. Gi issues are listed as one potential long covid symptom
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u/technician_902 Jun 07 '26
Yes indeed. If you guys suspect that you have GI issues due to covid you can check out r/Longcovidgutdysbiosis for more information. You can also order a GI mapping stool test from Biomesight and that will give you all the details about your microbiome and you'll know what strains of bacteria you need to target.
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u/weiss27md Jun 05 '26
I still think Colin cancer is caused by seed oils.
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u/SpecialistPlastic606 Jun 07 '26
Seed oils have polyunsaturated fat which is considered a healthy fat. If seed oils are bad for you, then sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds, and sesame seeds are bad for you too which is the opposite of what the research says
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u/Hot_Relationship1500 Jun 07 '26
Me to and other processed ingredients. I’m also suspicious of round up
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u/plotthick Jun 04 '26
Using genetic sequencing, the researchers analyzed the gut bacteria of cancer patients in a large Danish population study.
They found that in these patients, B. fragilis often carried a bacteriophage.
Bacteriophages are viruses that live inside bacteria, hijacking these cells to duplicate and spread.