Can C. Difficile Play a Role in the Development of Colorectal Cancers?

Data collected by researchers at the Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center and the Bloomberg~Kimmel Institute for Cancer Immunotherapy suggest that Clostridioides difficile (C diff), a bacterial species well known for causing serious diarrheal infections, may also drive colorectal cancer. The findings may expose another troublesome role for this microbe, which causes approximately 500,000 infections a year in the U.S.—many of which prove incredibly difficult to clear (Cancer Discov 2022; https://doi.org/10.1158/2159-8290.CD-21-1273).