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TWO species of bacteria found in colon tumours have been shown to cause bowel cancer in mice.

Together, Escherichia coli and Bacteroides fragilis cause DNA damage that could lead to cancer-causing mutations, although this hasn鈥檛 been seen in people yet.

Cynthia Sears at the Bloomberg-Kimmel Institute for Cancer Immunotherapy in Maryland and her team found that E. coli and B. fragilis invaded the wall of the colon, part of the bowel, in tissue samples taken from people with an inherited form of colon cancer.

When the two species were put into mice predisposed to get bowel cancer, the number of tumours that formed dramatically increased (Science, ).

This article appeared in print under the headline 鈥淏acterial link to bowel cancer鈥�