Streptococcus bovis is a Gram-positive bacterium causing serious human infections, including endocarditis and bacteremia, and is usually associated with underlying disease. The aims of the current study were to compare prevalence of the bacterium associated with malignant and nonmalignant gastrointestinal diseases and to determine the susceptibility of the isolated strains to different antimicrobial agents. The result showed that the prevalence of S. bovis in stool specimens from patients with malignant or with nonmalignant gastrointestinal diseases was statistically significant. This result may support the idea that there is correlation between S. bovis and the malignant gastrointestinal diseases. 1. Introduction Several species of bacteria have been linked to chronic infections of colon and have been shown to increase the risk of colon cancer. Streptococcus bovis has been evaluated as one of the possible etiologic agents for colorectal cancer [1]. S. bovis is a Gram-positive bacterium, which is considered as a normal inhabitant of the human gastrointestinal tract but is less frequently present than other Streptococcus species [2]. Whatever, S. bovis has been shown to be an increased cause of endocarditis and bacteraemia and found to be associated with gastrointestinal diseases [3–6] or with the colorectal cancer [7–10]. Although a number of bacteria have been associated with cancer, their possible role in carcinogenesis is unclear. In some cases Helicobacter pylori may cause stomach cancer [11, 12] since animal models have demonstrated Koch’s third and fourth postulates for the role of H. pylori in the causation of stomach cancer [13]. Moreover, it has been found also that Salmonella typhi is associated with gallbladder cancer [14] and Escherichia coli with Crohn's disease as well as colon cancer [15, 16]. McCoy and Mason first reported a case of the association between streptococcal endocarditis and colon cancer in 1951 [7]. Many studies have examined the presence of S. bovis in stool samples obtained from patients with colorectal cancer to find a relationship between this bacterium and the risk of colorectal cancer. In 1977, Klein et al. found a significantly strong association of S. bovis in stool samples of patients with colon cancer compared with healthy controls and patients with nonmalignant gastrointestinal disease [17]. This important finding was confirmed in later studies [18–20]. In contrast, other studies did not find any significant association between faecal S. bovis and human colorectal cancer [21–24]. The aims of the current study were
References
[1]
A. N. Burnett-Hartman, P. A. Newcomb, and J. D. Potter, “Infectious agents and colorectal cancer: a review of Helicobacter pylori, Streptococcus bovis, JC virus, and Human papillomavirus,” Cancer Epidemiology Biomarkers and Prevention, vol. 17, no. 11, pp. 2970–2979, 2008.
[2]
C. J. Noble, “Carriage of group D streptococci in the human bowel,” Journal of Clinical Pathology, vol. 31, no. 12, pp. 1182–1186, 1978.
[3]
R. Bayliss, C. Clarke, and C. M. Oakley, “The bowel, the genitourinary tract, and infective endocarditis,” British Heart Journal, vol. 51, no. 3, pp. 339–345, 1984.
[4]
M. Ballet, G. Gevigney, J. P. Garé, F. Delahaye, J. Etienne, and J. P. Delahaye, “Infective endocarditis due to Streptococcus bovis: a report of 53 cases,” European Heart Journal, vol. 16, no. 12, pp. 1975–1980, 1995.
[5]
H. W. Murray and R. B. Roberts, “Streptococcus bovis bacteremia and underlying gastrointestinal disease,” Archives of Internal Medicine, vol. 138, no. 7, pp. 1097–1099, 1978.
[6]
J. G. Reynolds, E. Silva, and W. M. McCormack, “Association of Streptococcus bovis bacteremia with bowel disease,” Journal of Clinical Microbiology, vol. 17, no. 4, pp. 696–697, 1983.
[7]
W. C. McCoy and J. M. Masson, “Enterococcal endocarditis associated with carcinoma of the sigmoid: report of case,” J Med Assoc Stat Alab, vol. 21, no. 2, pp. 162–166, 1951.
[8]
D. Steinberg and C. Z. Naggar, “Streptococcus bovis endocarditis with carcinoma of the colon,” The New England Journal of Medicine, vol. 297, no. 24, pp. 1354–1355, 1977.
[9]
Y. Abul, Z. Odabasi, N. Kodalli, A. Oktay, and V. Korten, “Streptococcus bovis endocarditis associated with rectal carcinoma and its neurological complications case report and literature review,” European Journal of General Medicine, vol. 3, no. 2, pp. 83–87, 2006.
[10]
R. S. Klein, M. T. Catalano, and S. C. Edberg, “Streptococcus bovis septicemia and carcinoma of the colon,” Annals of Internal Medicine, vol. 91, no. 4, pp. 560–562, 1979.
[11]
Y. Egi, M. Ito, S. Tanaka et al., “Role of Helicobacter pylori infection and chronic inflammation in gastric cancer in the Cardia,” Japanese Journal of Clinical Oncology, vol. 37, no. 5, pp. 365–369, 2007.
[12]
S. Peter and C. Beglinger, “Helicobacter pylori and gastric cancer: the causal relationship,” Digestion, vol. 75, no. 1, pp. 25–35, 2007.
[13]
T. Watanabe, M. Tada, H. Nagi, S. Sasaki, and M. Nakao, “Helicobacter pylori infection induces gastric cancer in Mongolian gerbils,” Gastroenterology, vol. 115, no. 3, pp. 642–648, 1998.
[14]
V. K. Shukla, H. Singh, M. Pandey, S. K. Upadhyay, and G. Nath, “Carcinoma of the gallbladder—is it a sequel of typhoid?” Digestive Diseases and Sciences, vol. 45, no. 5, pp. 900–903, 2000.
[15]
R. J. Aspinall, “Are adherent Escherichia coli in Crohn's disease and colon cancer truly pathogenic?” Gastroenterology, vol. 127, no. 5, pp. 1649–1650, 2004.
[16]
H. M. Martin, B. J. Campbell, C. A. Hart et al., “Enhanced Escherichia coli adherence and invasion in Crohn's disease and colon cancer,” Gastroenterology, vol. 127, no. 1, pp. 80–93, 2004.
[17]
R. S. Klein, R. A. Recco, and M. T. Catalano, “Association of Streptococcus bovis with carcinoma of the colon,” New England Journal of Medicine, vol. 297, no. 15, pp. 800–802, 1977.
[18]
C. A. Burns, R. McCaughey, and C. B. Lauter, “The association of Streptococcus bovis fecal carriage and colon neoplasia: possible relationship with polyps and their premalignant potential,” American Journal of Gastroenterology, vol. 80, no. 1, pp. 42–46, 1985.
[19]
R. Dubrow, S. Edberg, E. Wikfors et al., “Fecal carriage of Streptococcus bovis and colorectal adenomas,” Gastroenterology, vol. 101, no. 3, pp. 721–725, 1991.
[20]
K. Al-Jashamy, A. Murad, M. Zeehaida, M. Rohaini, and J. Hasnan, “Prevalence of colorectal cancer associated with Streptococcus bovis among inflammatory bowel and chronic gastrointestinal tract disease patients,” Asian Pacific Journal of Cancer Prevention, vol. 11, no. 6, pp. 1765–1768, 2010.
[21]
R. G. Norfleet and P. D. Mitchell, “Streptococcus bovis does not selectively colonize colorectal cancer and polyps,” Journal of Clinical Gastroenterology, vol. 17, no. 1, pp. 25–28, 1993.
[22]
M. A. Potter, N. A. Cunliffe, M. Smith, R. S. Miles, A. D. Flapan, and M. G. Dunlop, “A prospective controlled study of the association of Streptococcus bovis with colorectal carcinoma,” Journal of Clinical Pathology, vol. 51, no. 6, pp. 473–474, 1998.
[23]
J. S. Gold, S. Bayar, and R. R. Salem, “Association of Streptococcus bovis bacteremia with colonic neoplasia and extracolonic malignancy,” Archives of Surgery, vol. 139, no. 7, pp. 760–765, 2004.
[24]
C. C. Huang, S. C. Chang, M. H. Shen, J. U. Wong, H. Y. Wu, and H. H. Lee, “Streptococcus bovis fecal carriage is not associated with an increased risk of colorectal neoplasm,” The Journal of Society of Colon and Rectal Surgeons, vol. 19, no. 3, pp. 71–77, 2008.
[25]
D. M. Parkin, F. Bray, J. Ferlay, and P. Pisani, “The global health burden of infection-associated cancers in the year 2002,” CA: A Cancer Journal for Clinicians, vol. 55, no. 12, pp. 74–108, 2005.
[26]
D. M. Parkin, “The global health burden of infection-associated cancers in the year 2002,” International Journal of Cancer, vol. 118, no. 12, pp. 3030–3044, 2006.
[27]
R. S. Klein, S. W. Warman, and G. G. Knackmuhs, “Lack of association of Streptococcus bovis with noncolonic gastrointestinal carcinoma,” American Journal of Gastroenterology, vol. 82, no. 6, pp. 540–543, 1987.
[28]
W. Alazmi, M. Bustamante, C. O'Loughlin, J. Gonzalez, and J. B. Raskin, “The association of Streptococcus bovis bacteremia and gastrointestinal diseases: a retrospective analysis,” Digestive Diseases and Sciences, vol. 51, no. 4, pp. 732–736, 2006.
[29]
B. A. Zarkin, K. D. Lillemoe, J. L. Cameron, P. N. Effron, T. H. Magnuson, and H. A. Pitt, “The triad of Streptococcus bovis bacteremia, colonic pathology, and liver disease,” Annals of Surgery, vol. 211, no. 6, pp. 786–792, 1990.
[30]
H. Tjalsma, M. Sch？ller-Guinard, E. Lasonder, T. J. Ruers, H. L. Willems, and D. W. Swinkels, “Profiling the humoral immune response in colon cancer patients: diagnostic antigens from Streptococcus bovis,” International Journal of Cancer, vol. 119, no. 9, pp. 2127–2135, 2006.
[31]
H. zur Hausen, “Streptococcus bovis: causal or incidental involvement in cancer of the colon,” International Journal of Cancer, vol. 119, no. 9, pp. 11–12, 2006.
[32]
S. Ellmerich, M. Sch？ller, B. Duranton et al., “Promotion of intestinal carcinogenesis by Streptococcus bovis,” Carcinogenesis, vol. 21, no. 4, pp. 753–756, 2000.
[33]
J. Betten, I. S. Nguyen, A. Pini, et al., “Carcinogenic properties of proteins with proinflammatory activity from Streptococcus infantarius (formerly S. bovis),” Carcinogenesis, vol. 25, no. 8, pp. 1477–1484, 2004.
[34]
？. Betten, J. Bylund, T. Cristophe et al., “A proinflammatory peptide from Helicobacter pylori activates monocytes to induce lymphocyte dysfunction and apoptosis,” The Journal of Clinical Investigation, vol. 108, no. 8, pp. 1221–1228, 2001.
