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Host–microbe interactions and spatial variation of cancer in the gut

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Abstract

The small intestine has a greater cell mass than the colon, it is longer and with greater surface area and has a faster rate of epithelial turnover. At first, this might suggest that the small bowel epithelium could be at greater risk of the cumulative genetic errors that predispose to cancer. However, the incidence of cancer of the small bowel is more than tenfold lower than that of colorectal cancer.

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Figure 1: Schematic representation of the small bowel and the large bowel, summarising features of each with regard to the spatial variation in the risk of cancer.

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Acknowledgements

The authors are supported in part by Science Foundation Ireland in the form of a centre grant to The Alimentary Pharmabiotic Centre, University College Cork, National University of Ireland, grant number 12/RC/2273.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Medicine, University College Cork, National University of Ireland,

    Fergus Shanahan

  2. Alimentary Pharmabiotic Centre, University College Cork, National University of Ireland,

    Fergus Shanahan & Paul W. O'Toole

  3. Department of Microbiology, University College Cork, National University of Ireland,

    Paul W. O'Toole

Authors
  1. Fergus Shanahan
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  2. Paul W. O'Toole
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Correspondence to Fergus Shanahan.

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Competing interests

The authors are supported in part by Science Foundation Ireland in the form of a centre grant to The Alimentary Pharmabiotic Centre, University College Cork, National University of Ireland, grant number 12/RC/2273. The authors declare no other competing interests in relation to the content of this article.

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Shanahan, F., O'Toole, P. Host–microbe interactions and spatial variation of cancer in the gut. Nat Rev Cancer 14, 511–512 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1038/nrc3765

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