Since a landmark 2009 study, researchers have known that a common gut bacterium, Bacteroides fragilis, drives colon tumor formation, potentially leading to colorectal cancer, by secreting a toxin that damages the lining of the colon. But until now, the exact mechanism the toxin uses to latch onto those cells remained a mystery.
A multi-institutional team led by researchers at the Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center Bloomberg~Kimmel Institute for Cancer Immunotherapy and the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine has identified the missing link. The study, published April 22 in Nature, reveals that the B. fragilis toxin BFT must first bind host receptor claudin-4 before it can cause damage. The work was supported in part by the National Institutes of Health.
“We’ve made several attempts over time to identify the receptor, so this is an exciting moment,” says senior author Cynthia Sears, M.D.,
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