New clues for the early detection of colorectal cancer
Histological comparison between normal colon tissue (images on the left) and colon tumor tissue (on the right) collected in Luxembourg and in which the expression of the SOCS proteins was assessed. (c) University of Luxembourg - LSRU
“Colorectal cancer is still one of the most frequent and deadliest cancers worldwide. But diagnosed in time it can be cured in 9 out of 10 cases”, said Professor Serge Haan from the Life Science Research Unit at the University of Luxembourg.
“Thus it is highly important to identify more sensitive and specific markers to improve early diagnosis as well as therapeutic strategies”.
The research team around Prof. Serge Haan and Dr. Elisabeth Letellier studied over 800 detailed results of tissue-analysis of both patients with various stages of colorectal cancer and healthy individuals.
They completed this study with original analysis of patient material from the Ontario Tumor Bank in Canada and the Integrated Biobank of Luxembourg.
The Luxembourg-based team were the first to see a significant reduction in certain proteins (specifically SOCS2 and SOCS6) in pre-cancerous and cancerous colorectal cells.
They concluded that especially SOCS2 could be a very sensitive, early diagnostic biomarker. Further analysis also revealed that this protein could even give an early prediction of the cancer’s severity.
SOCS stands for “Suppressor Of Cytokine Signalling”, regulatory proteins which are essential for normal cell growth.
There is increasing evidence that the loss of SOCS proteins plays a role in many cancers as this induce uncontrolled cell growth and tumour development. This study additionally strengthens the case for those proteins having tumour repressive potential.
These findings have been published in the renowned British Journal of Cancer. The research team included several Luxembourg biomedical research institutions: The National Health Laboratory, the Santé Public Research Centre and the Integrated Biobank of Luxembourg.
This study was financed by the Luxembourg Cancer Foundation. Further work is now needed to expand on these findings before they can be used clinically.
http://www.nature.com/bjc/journal/v111/n4/abs/bjc2014377a.html – Link to the publication
http://wwwen.uni.lu/recherche/fstc/life_sciences_research_unit – Life Sciences Research Unit at the University of Luxembourg
Media Contact
All latest news from the category: Health and Medicine
This subject area encompasses research and studies in the field of human medicine.
Among the wide-ranging list of topics covered here are anesthesiology, anatomy, surgery, human genetics, hygiene and environmental medicine, internal medicine, neurology, pharmacology, physiology, urology and dental medicine.
Newest articles
A universal framework for spatial biology
SpatialData is a freely accessible tool to unify and integrate data from different omics technologies accounting for spatial information, which can provide holistic insights into health and disease. Biological processes…
How complex biological processes arise
A $20 million grant from the U.S. National Science Foundation (NSF) will support the establishment and operation of the National Synthesis Center for Emergence in the Molecular and Cellular Sciences (NCEMS) at…
Airborne single-photon lidar system achieves high-resolution 3D imaging
Compact, low-power system opens doors for photon-efficient drone and satellite-based environmental monitoring and mapping. Researchers have developed a compact and lightweight single-photon airborne lidar system that can acquire high-resolution 3D…
