Fig. 5. Bacterial invasion and tumour promotion.

a Clinical information on surgically resected CRC tissues and relative abundances of OTUs corresponding to the two bacterial species (P. asaccharolytica and P. gingivalis) in the faeces of the patients analysed. b Paraffin-embedded CRC tissues were subjected to the in situ hybridization using probes specific to P. asaccharolytica, or P. gingivalis, or to the immuno-staining analysis using indicated antibodies. These assays were performed in three biologically independent replicates to show representative data. c Butyrate concentrations in CRC tissues and paired non-tumour tissues of eight patients. Statistical significance was determined with a two-tailed Wilcoxon signed-rank test. P value < 0.05 was considered significant. d Colorectal tumour numbers in Apc^Δ14/+ mice gavaged with PBS (n = 18), P. asaccharolytica (n = 21), P. gingivalis (n = 21) or F. nucleatum subspecies nucleatum (referred to as F. nucleatum) (n = 11) (left) and the average colorectal tumour numbers with the size distribution per mouse (right). Error bars indicate mean ± standard error of measurement (s.e.m.). Representative macroscopic photographs of the colorectal tumours are shown (bottom). Statistical significance was determined with a Kruskal–Wallis rank-sum test followed by two-tailed pairwise Wilcoxon rank-sum tests. P values < 0.05 were considered significant. F. nucleatum was used here as a positive control and PBS was used here as a negative control. e Colorectal tumour numbers in Apc^Δ14/+ mice gavaged with P. gingivalis wild-type strain (ATCC 33277) (n = 22) or its butyrate synthesis defective mutant strain (PGAGU 118)⁵³ (n = 24) (upper left) and the average colorectal tumour numbers with the size distribution per mouse (upper right) are shown. Representative macroscopic photographs of the colorectal tumours are shown (bottom). Statistical significance was determined with a two-tailed Wilcoxon rank-sum test. Error bars indicate mean ± s.e.m. P value < 0.05 was considered significant. f Colorectal tumour numbers in Apc^Δ14/+ mice gavaged with P. gingivalis wild-type strain with (n = 10) or without (n = 10) ABT-263 (upper left) and the size distribution of colorectal tumours of indicated mouse are shown (upper right). Representative macroscopic photographs of the colorectal tumours are shown (bottom). Statistical significance was determined with a two-tailed Wilcoxon rank-sum test. Error bars indicate mean ± s.e.m. P value < 0.05 was considered significant. Source data are provided as a Source Data file.