Abstract 5914: Colorectal cancer attributes and outcomes according to Fusobacterium nucleatum enrichment and presence

Purpose: Fusobacterium nucleatum (Fn) has been associated with colorectal cancer (CRC) etiology and outcomes. However, these relationships may differ by tumor attributes. We examined whether Fn enrichment and presence in CRC was associated with tumor attributes and survival. Experimental Design: We measured the abundance of Fn via droplet digital PCR in patient-matched CRC tumor and normal tissue samples from a subset of participants in the Puget Sound CRC Cohort (n=526). Fn enrichment was defined as the continuous difference in Fn abundance (normalized to counts of a host housekeeping gene) between patient-matched tumor and normal tissue samples. Fn presence in tumor was classified categorically as negative, low (Fn abundance >0 but