REVIEW article
Front. Microbiol.
Sec. Microorganisms in Vertebrate Digestive Systems
Volume 16 - 2025 | doi: 10.3389/fmicb.2025.1637272
This article is part of the Research TopicUnlocking the Potential of the Microbiome in Cancer TherapyView all 3 articles
Revisiting berberine for the prevention and treatment of Fusobacterium nucleatum-induced colorectal cancer from a dynamic perspective
Provisionally accepted
- 1Hospital of Chengdu University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Chengdu, China
- 2Deyang Hospital Affiliated Hospital of Chengdu University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Deyang, China
- 3Department of Respiratory Medicine, Hospital of Chengdu University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Chengdu, China
Select one of your emails
You have multiple emails registered with Frontiers:
Notify me on publication
Please enter your email address:
If you already have an account, please login
You don't have a Frontiers account ? You can register here
Abstract: Colorectal cancer (CRC), a common malignancy, often arises from adenomatous precursors.In the adenoma-carcinoma progression of CRC, fusobacterium nucleatum (Fn) plays an important driving role. Therefore, the discovery of new drugs targeting Fn-induced disease progression is crucial for the prevention and treatment of CRC. Berberine (BBR), which has a relatively broad spectrum of antitumor activity, has received increasing attention in recent years. In this study, we summarize BBR's regulatory effects on the different stages of intestinal adenoma-carcinoma transformation induced by Fn and its anti-tumor mechanisms in the occurrence and development of CRC for the first time. Firstly, BBR can prevent the migration and intestinal colonization of Fn and regulate Fn-induced microbiota imbalance . Secondly, in the pre-cancerous lesion stage, BBR can attenuates Fn-mediated inflammation , inhibit abnormal crypt foci, and reverse adenoma progression. In addition, BBR can suppresses established CRC by inhibiting cell proliferation, invasion, metastasis, immune escape and drug resistance. For the classic pathogenic model of Fn-mediated CRC, the therapeutic effect of BBR is dynamic and comprehensive from pathogenic factors to pathological products. Among them, E-cadherin, Wnt/β-catenin, JAK/STAT and MAPK/ERK signaling pathways may be key to BBR's prevention of Fn-induced CRC.
Keywords: Fusobacterium nucleatum, colorectal cancer, Berberine, Adenoma, Adenocarcinoma
Received: 29 May 2025; Accepted: 20 Aug 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 DongMing, Yang, Yong, Huang, Liu and Gong. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Ju Huang, Hospital of Chengdu University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Chengdu, China
Disclaimer: All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.