By Julie Steenhuysen
CHICAGO (Reuters) - Scientists have discovered a genetic mutation linked with colon cancer that may work like a spigot, controlling the number of precancerous growths that develop and determining a person's susceptibility to cancer.
They said the finding could point to new ways to diagnose, treat and possibly even prevent colon cancer, the second-leading cause of cancer death in the United States after lung cancer.
In a study appearing on Thursday in the journal Genome Research, cancer biologists at Thomas Jefferson University in Philadelphia studied mice that carry a mutation in the Apc gene, a gene known to cause precancerous growths or polyps in mice.
Changes in the human version of the gene are known to start the process that leads to colon cancer. People who develop large numbers of polyps are significantly more likely to get colon cancer.
The researchers found that the mice that carried only one copy of the damaged or mutated gene had about 90 percent fewer polyps in the small intestine and colon.
http://www.reuters.com/article/healthNews/idUSN2143237420070322?feedType=RSS
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