NBR: Protein breakthrough in fight against colon cancer

The NBR reports on the discovery by Chinese researchers of two molecules which could be important in the fight against the metastasis of colon cancer.

The molecules could be used to test whether colon cancer has metastasized – spread to other parts of the body – and could as a result potentially save lives.

An excerpt: (read in full here)

“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.”