Fecal Profilesof Anaerobic Microflora of Large Bowel Cancer Patients and Patients with Nonhereditary Large Bowel Polyps1

It has been postulatedthat the intestinal anaerobes play a role In the etiology of large bowel cancer. This study was designed to characterize and compare the fecab anaerobes of patients with large bowel cancer, patients wfth nonheredbtarylarge bowel pobyps,and healthy control subjects. Although some distributional variationsof the anaerobicgenerawere observedamong the studygroups,significantdifferencesin fecal anaero bic microflora and total aerobic counts were not noted. Thissuggeststhat taxonomicgroupingof fecal bacteriais an inadequate measure of relative risk of developing bargebowel cancer. However,the fecal microbialla-dc hydroxylaseand cholesteroldehydrogenaseactivitiesof large bowelcancer patientsand patientswith nonheredi tary large bowel polyps were significantlyhigher than those of healthycontrolsubjects.On the other hand, no significantdifference in fecabmicrobial/3-glucuronidase activitywas notedamongthe studygroups.It maybe that assessmentof the total metabolicactivitiesof the intes tinalmicroflorawillprovidea betterunderstandingof their potentialrole inthe genesisof largebowelcancer.