Figure 5.

Stress promoted the progression of colorectal tumour in Apc^Min/+ mice fed with F. nucleatum (a) Representative images showing the tumor formation and F. nucleatum invasion in tumours. (b, c) quantification of tumour number and size in each group. D-Rib significantly decreased the tumour number and size in mice fed with F. nucleatum. the tumour size in F. nucleatum + stress group was significantly higher than in F. nucleatum group. Both the tumour number and size were decreased significantly by catecholamine inhibitor AMPT. (d) qRT-PCR analysis highlighting F. nucleatum burden in tumours. AMPT significantly decreased the abundance of F. nucleatum induced by host stress. (e) F. nucleatum administration significantly increased AI-2 level in tumours, which was inhibited by D-Rib or AMPT.

***P < 0.001, **P < 0.01. *P < 0.05. F. nucleatum, Fusobacterium nucleatum; D-Rib, D-Ribose; AMPT, catecholamine inhibitor; NC, Negative control.