Geographical variation in the incidence of colorectal cancer and urinary tract cancer is associated with population exposure to colibactin-producing Escherichia coli

Biomedical research has implicated the bacterial metabolite colibactin as a causal risk factor for several cancer types, in particular, colorectal cancer. Colibactin has been known to drive tumorigenesis by inducing double-strand breaks in the DNA of epithelial cells exposed to colibactin-producing bacteria. Some phylogroup B2 Escherichia coli secrete colibactin during interbacterial warfare, concomitantly exposing the host to an increasing risk of DNA damage. This Personal View reviews the current knowledge about the cancer–colibactin interface and summarises metagenomics-based and population-genomics-based surveys to show that the prevalence of dominant colibactin-producing lineages of E coli varies considerably across geographical regions. The prevalence is further strongly associated with the age-standardised incidences of colorectal cancer, bladder cancer, and prostate cancer, suggesting that the degree of colibactin exposure in a population might contribute to the geographical variation of these cancers. Our observations provide a strong impetus for further research and the development of novel interventions to reduce the risks for colibactin-related cancers.