Researchers have demonstrated that an imbalance in the gut microbiota, also known as ‘dysbiosis’, promotes the onset of colorectal cancer. The teams demonstrated that transplanting fecal flora from patients with colon cancer into mice caused lesions and epigenetic changes characteristic of the development of a malignant tumor. The pilot study led to the development of a non-invasive blood test which identifies the epigenetic phenomenon associated with dysbiosis. The test was validated in 1,000 individuals.