Mucins, Gut Microbiota, and Postbiotics Role in Colorectal Cancer

Authors

Ramesh Pothuraju
Sanjib Chaudhary
Satyanarayana Rachagani
Sukhwinder Kaur
Hemant K Roy
Michael Bouvet
Surinder K Batra

Publication Date

1-1-2021

Journal

Gut Microbes

DOI

10.1080/19490976.2021.1974795

PMID

34586012

PMCID

PMC8489937

PubMedCentral® Posted Date

9-29-2021

PubMedCentral® Full Text Version

Post-print

Published Open-Access

yes

Keywords

Animals, Colorectal Neoplasms, Gastrointestinal Microbiome, Humans, Intestinal Mucosa, Mucins, Prebiotics, Probiotics, Mucins, gut microbiota, prebiotics, probiotics, postbiotics, colorectal cancer

Abstract

An imbalance in the crosstalk between the host and gut microbiota affects the intestinal barrier function, which results in inflammatory diseases and colorectal cancer. The colon epithelium protects itself from a harsh environment and various pathogenic organisms by forming a double mucus layer, primarily comprising mucins. Recent studies are focusing on how dietary patterns alter the gut microbiota composition, which in turn regulates mucin expression and maintains the intestinal layers. In addition, modulation of gut microbiota by microbiotic therapy (involving fecal microbiota transplantation) has emerged as a significant factor in the pathologies associated with dysbiosis. Therefore, proper communication between host and gut microbiota via different dietary patterns (prebiotics and probiotics) is needed to maintain mucus composition, mucin synthesis, and regulation. Here, we review how the interactions between diet and gut microbiota and bacterial metabolites (postbiotics) regulate mucus layer functionalities and mucin expression in human health and disease.