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Significance of Fusobacterium nucleatum Combined with SFRP2 and SDC2 Gene Methylation Detection in Early Screening of Colorectal Cancer

ZHONG, FANGCHAO

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Jun 18, 2025

Significance of Fusobacterium nucleatum Combined with SFRP2 and SDC2 Gene Methylation Detection in Early Screening of Colorectal Cancer's Cover Image

Polish Journal of Microbiology

Volume 74 (2025): Issue 2 (June 2025)

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Article Category: Original Paper

Published Online: Jun 18, 2025

Page range: 218 - 231

Received: Feb 19, 2025

Accepted: May 10, 2025

DOI: https://doi.org/10.33073/pjm-2025-018

Keywords
colorectal cancer, methylation, microbiome, fecal biomarker, early screening

© 2025 FANGCHAO ZHONG et al., published by Sciendo

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

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Expression of SFRP2 and SDC2 in different tissues.
Non-paired (a, b) and paired (c, d) expression of SFRP2 and SDC2 in colorectal cancer tumors and normal tissues from the TCGA database. SFRP2 (e) and SDC2 (f) methylation levels in primary tumors and normal tissues from the UALCAN database. Expression of SFRP2 (g) and SDC2 (h) in our recruited cohort. * p < 0.05; ** p < 0.01; *** p < 0.001; **** p < 0.0001 — Expression of SFRP2 and SDC2 in different tissues. Non-paired (a, b) and paired (c, d) expression of SFRP2 and SDC2 in colorectal cancer tumors and normal tissues from the TCGA database. SFRP2 (e) and SDC2 (f) methylation levels in primary tumors and normal tissues from the UALCAN database. Expression of SFRP2 (g) and SDC2 (h) in our recruited cohort. * p < 0.05; ** p < 0.01; *** p < 0.001; **** p < 0.0001

Microbial composition at the genus level between colorectal cancer and control samples.
Stacked plots (a, b), OTU abundance bars (c, d), and heat maps of the top 15 OTU rankings (e, f) for tumors and normal tissues from different data sources. *p < 0.05; **p < 0.01; ***p < 0.001; ****p < 0.0001 — Microbial composition at the genus level between colorectal cancer and control samples. Stacked plots (a, b), OTU abundance bars (c, d), and heat maps of the top 15 OTU rankings (e, f) for tumors and normal tissues from different data sources. *p < 0.05; **p < 0.01; ***p < 0.001; ****p < 0.0001

Detection of DNA methylation markers and Fusobacterium nucleatum (Fn) markers in stool samples.
Methylation levels of SFRP2 (a) and SDC2 (b). Relative abundance of Fusobacterium in stool samples based on the data from Yachida et al. (2019) (c). Relative expression levels of the fadA (d) and nusG (e) genes in fecal samples from NC, AD, and CRC. Fn relative abundance in stool samples was analyzed using the gutMEGA database (f). Proportion of positive occurrences of SFRP2, SDC2, fadA, and nusG in fecal samples (g). Association between lymph node metastasis and methylation of SFRP2 and SDC2 (h). * p < 0.05; ** p < 0.01; *** p < 0.001; **** p < 0.0001 — Detection of DNA methylation markers and Fusobacterium nucleatum (Fn) markers in stool samples. Methylation levels of SFRP2 (a) and SDC2 (b). Relative abundance of Fusobacterium in stool samples based on the data from Yachida et al. (2019) (c). Relative expression levels of the fadA (d) and nusG (e) genes in fecal samples from NC, AD, and CRC. Fn relative abundance in stool samples was analyzed using the gutMEGA database (f). Proportion of positive occurrences of SFRP2, SDC2, fadA, and nusG in fecal samples (g). Association between lymph node metastasis and methylation of SFRP2 and SDC2 (h). * p < 0.05; ** p < 0.01; *** p < 0.001; **** p < 0.0001

Correlation between the expression of SFRP2 and SDC2, Fn, and immune-infiltrating cells.
Correlations between SFRP2 (a) and SDC2 (b) expression and immune cells in COAD and READ by TIMER. Relationship between Fn and lymphocyte (c), monocyte (d), and neutrophil (e) levels in the TCMA database. — Correlation between the expression of SFRP2 and SDC2, Fn, and immune-infiltrating cells. Correlations between SFRP2 (a) and SDC2 (b) expression and immune cells in COAD and READ by TIMER. Relationship between Fn and lymphocyte (c), monocyte (d), and neutrophil (e) levels in the TCMA database.

H&E staining of colorectal cancer tissue.
+ - Hypermethylation (SFRP2, SDC2) or hyperexpression (fadA, nusG); - - hypomethylation or unmethylation (SFRP2, SDC2), and undetected or hypoexpression (fadA, nusG). — H&E staining of colorectal cancer tissue. + - Hypermethylation (SFRP2, SDC2) or hyperexpression (fadA, nusG); - - hypomethylation or unmethylation (SFRP2, SDC2), and undetected or hypoexpression (fadA, nusG).

Diagnostic performance of combined detection, single-gene detection, CEA, and FOBT.
ROC curves illustrating the sensitivity and specificity of SFRP2, SDC2, Fn (fadA + nusG), CEA, FOBTand combined indicators in CRC vs. NC (a, d, g), CRC vs. AD (b, e, h), and NC vs. AD (c, f, i) in fecal samples, along with their corresponding AUC values. Positive rates of four CRC biomarker combination indicators, FOBT, and serum tumor markers in CRC stages I, II, III, and IV (j). — Diagnostic performance of combined detection, single-gene detection, CEA, and FOBT. ROC curves illustrating the sensitivity and specificity of SFRP2, SDC2, Fn (fadA + nusG), CEA, FOBTand combined indicators in CRC vs. NC (a, d, g), CRC vs. AD (b, e, h), and NC vs. AD (c, f, i) in fecal samples, along with their corresponding AUC values. Positive rates of four CRC biomarker combination indicators, FOBT, and serum tumor markers in CRC stages I, II, III, and IV (j).

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Publication timeframe:: 4 times per year
Journal Subjects:: Life Sciences, Microbiology and Virology

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