Dartmouth Medical School geneticists have discovered a striking turnabout role for a gatekeeper known to put on the brakes for colon cancer. Flaws in a gene called adenomatous polyposis coli (APC), which normally prevents excessive cell growth, are thought to trigger development of most colorectal cancers.

Researchers at Johns Hopkins and Ohio State University have found that the number of copies of a particular gene can affect the severity of colon cancer in a mouse model. Publishing in the Jan. 3 issue of Nature, the research team describes how trisomy 21, or Down syndrome in humans, can repress tumor growth.

A married couple who sailed from England to America around 1630 may be the ancestors of hundreds of people alive today who are at risk for a hereditary form of colon cancer.

Damaged or defective genes have long been known to be the cause of some cancers. Over the past decade, however, scientists have discovered that even healthy genes can be switched on or off and can cause cancer without any changes in the underlying DNA sequence—although how this happens has remained poorly understood.

Rural patients are often assumed to be the top truants in American medicine, not seeking medical attention until a condition is more advanced and less treatable. However, a new study by Dartmouth researchers suggests that urban, not rural, patients are most likely to slip through the cracks—at least when it comes to colorectal and lung cancer.

An abnormality of chromosomes long associated with diseases of aging has, for the first time, been linked to colon cancer in people 50 years old and younger, an age group usually considered young for this disease.

One year after completing the first large-scale report sequencing breast and colon cancer genes, Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center scientists have studied the vast majority of protein-coding genes which now suggest a landscape dominated by genes that each are mutated in relatively few cancers.

Johns Hopkins scientists have developed a potentially novel way to fight colorectal cancer using tiny molecules to deliver potent barrages of radiation inside cancer cells, unlike current treatments that bind to the surface of cells and attack from the outside and cause unwanted side effects.

A drug to treat colon cancer is proving much more convenient than traditional chemotherapy, has fewer side effects - and a study of almost 2,000 patients has shown it is giving them a better chance of surviving the disease.

The first step in the development of colon cancer is the formation of benign tumours, called adenomas, in the intestine. Over time, these tumours may progress to produce colon cancer if they undergo a series of mutations and genetic alterations.

Researchers in The Netherlands have developed a method of accurately predicting which patients with colon cancer are most likely to have their disease recur after surgery and who would, therefore, be likely to benefit from additional chemotherapy.

Eating fruits and vegetables was not strongly associated with decreased colon cancer risk, according to a study published online in the September 25 Journal of the National Cancer Institute.