Preliminary Analysis of the Presence of Bacterial Azurin Coding Gene in CRC Patients and Correlation with the Microbiota Composition

Background: Azurin, a bacterial cupredoxin firstly isolated from the bacterium Pseudomonas aeruginosa, is considered a potential alternative therapeutic tool against different types of cancer. Aims: In this work we have explored the relationship possibly existing between azurin and colorectal cancer (CRC), in light of the evidence that microbial imbalance can lead to CRC progression. Method-ology/Results: To this aim, the presence of azurin coding gene in the DNA extracted from saliva, stool, and biopsy samples of 10 CRC patients and 10 healthy controls was evaluated by real-time PCR using primers specifically designed to target the azurin coding gene from different bacterial groups. The correlation of the previously obtained microbiota data with real-time PCR results evidenced a preferen-tial enrichment of seven bacterial groups in some samples than in others, even though no statistical significance was detected between controls and CRC. The subset of azurin gene-harbouring bacterial groups was representative of the entire community. Conclusions: Despite the lack of statistical significance between healthy and diseased patients, HTS data analysis highlighted a kind of preferential enrichment of seven bacterial groups harbouring the azurin gene in some samples than in others.

Automated summary

This study explored the relationship between Azurin and colorectal cancer (CRC) by investigating the presence of the Azurin coding gene in samples from CRC patients and healthy controls. Although no statistical significance was found, the study revealed a preferential enrichment of certain bacterial groups harboring the Azurin gene in some samples, suggesting a potential association between microbial imbalance and CRC progression.