Chinese researchers have discovered two proteins could be used to predict whether colon cancer will spread to other parts of the body, potentially saving lives.One of the biggest dangers of colon (colorectal) cancer is the high risk of it returning after
Chinese researchers have discovered two proteins could be used to predict whether colon cancer will spread to other parts of the body, potentially saving lives.
One of the biggest dangers of colon (colorectal) cancer is the high risk of it returning after the initial treatment, which is usually surgery.
Half of colon cancer patients suffer a recurrence of the disease within five years of treatment because of its spread (metastasis) to other parts of the body.
And according to the scientists, who reported their findings in the American Chemical Society’s Journal of Proteome Research, until now there have been no reliable chemical markers in the body to predict whether it will spread or not.
The scientists started out by looking at one colon cancer patient and comparing the proteins produced by the original tumour cells to those of metastasized cells.
Examining tissue samples from 144 colorectal cancer patients and 156 people without cancer they found more than 700 proteins that also featured in both cancer samples from the original patient.
They whittled that down to 145 and then eventually identified eight proteins that were important to key cell functions.
When they checked cancer patients for these proteins they found two of the proteins, TFF3 and GDF15, were more common in patients who had cancer that had spread to the lymph nodes than those with cancer that hadn’t spread to the lymph nodes.
The researchers hope that the discovery will help identify which colon cancer patients need more aggressive treatment.
