Imaging technique reveals that bacterial biofilms are associated with colon cancer
Friday, December 12, 2014 - 13:00
in Biology & Nature
Since the first "catalog" of the normal bacterial makeup of the human body was published in 2012, numerous connections between illness and disturbances in the human microbiota have been found. This week, scientists report yet another: Cancerous tumors in the ascending colon (the part nearest to the small intestine) are characterized by biofilms, which are dense clumps of bacterial cells encased in a self-produced matrix.