Colorectal cancer is one of the most common
cancers in the world. It is well known that the chronic
inflammation can promote the progression of
colorectal cancer (CRC). Recently, a number of studies revealed a potential association between colorectal
inflammation,
cancer progression, and
infection caused by enterotoxigenic Bacteroides fragilis (ETBF). Bacterial
enterotoxin activates
spermine oxidase (SMO), which produces
spermidine and H2O2 as byproducts of
polyamine catabolism, which, in turn, enhances
inflammation and tissue injury. Using qPCR analysis, we estimated the expression of SMOX gene and ETBF colonization in CRC patients. We found no statistically significant associations between them. Then we selected genes involved in
polyamine metabolism, metabolic reprogramming, and
inflammation regulation and estimated their expression in CRC. We observed overexpression of SMOX, ODC1, SRM, SMS, MTAP, c-Myc, C/EBPβ (CREBP), and other genes. We found that two mediators of metabolic reprogramming,
inflammation, and cell proliferation c-Myc and C/EBPβ may serve as regulators of
polyamine metabolism genes (SMOX, AZIN1, MTAP, SRM, ODC1, AMD1, and AGMAT) as they are overexpressed in
tumors, have binding site according to ENCODE ChIP-Seq data, and demonstrate strong coexpression with their targets. Thus, increased
polyamine metabolism in CRC could be driven by c-Myc and C/EBPβ rather than ETBF
infection.