To print: Select File and then Print from your browser's menu --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Title: Screening Should Increase as Colorectal Cancer Gene Identified URL: http://www.pslgroup.com/dg/228962.htm Doctor's Guide August 14, 2008
CHICAGO -- August 14, 2008 -- About one-third of colorectal cancers are inherited, but the genetic cause of most of these cancers is unknown. The genes linked to colorectal cancer account for fewer than 5% of all cases. The results presented in this new study, to be published in the August 14 issue of Science, are the first to show that decreased production of a receptor for TGF-beta was present in 10% to 20% of patients with colorectal cancer. Decreased production of the same receptor was present in only 1% to 3% in healthy control groups.
If a person inherits this trait -- which is dominant and clusters in families -- the study found the lifetime risk of developing colorectal cancer is 50% compared with 6% for the general population.
"This [gene] probably accounts for more colorectal cancers than all other gene mutations discovered thus far," said lead author of the paper Boris Pasche, MD, Cancer Genetics Program, Feinberg School, and Robert H. Lurie Comprehensive Cancer Center of Northwestern University, Chicago, Illinois.
The findings, which are based on a Caucasian population, need to be confirmed in other studies and may show strong variation among ethnic groups, Dr. Pasche said.
Dr. Pasche expects that a clinical test will soon be developed that could be offered to families with a history of colorectal cancer and other individuals to determine whether they carry this mutation.
"The reasonable expectation is this finding will save some lives," Dr. Pasche said. "We will be able to identify a larger number of individuals who are at risk of colorectal cancer and, in the long term, maybe decrease the cases of colorectal cancer and of people dying from it by being able to screen them more frequently."
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