A new genetic study by British experts identified faults in specific genes or DNA that may be responsible for causing bowel cancer in individuals, giving rise to a probability for doctors to tailor therapies for thousands who suffer from this disease world over. The study published in the British Journal of Cancer showed promise in treating additional 3,000 bowel cancer patients each year.
A genetic analysis of 106 bowel cancer tumour samples searching for faults in a key gene called K-Ras was carried out by Cancer Research UK scientists from the University of Dundee. K-Ras gene controls cell division by acting as a switch that turns ‘on’ or ‘off’ during specific times in a cell cycle. In many bowel cancers, K-Ras is faulty and stuck in the “on” position, fuelling tumour growth.
Some bowel cancer patients who have a normally functioning K-Ras “switch” may benefit from new cancer drugs called cetuximab and panitumumab. However, patients with faulty K-Ras will not benefit from these drugs, making it especially important to be able to accurately test the K-Ras gene for faults.
Professor Roland Wolf, Director of the Cancer Research UK Molecular Pharmacology Unit at the University of Dundee, said: “These findings may in the future be relevant for selected patients with advanced bowel cancer as doctors will be able to more precisely target these treatments to the patients who will benefit, and avoid treating those who won’t.”
Lead study author Dr Gillian Smith, also from the University of Dundee, added: “The next stage is to develop effective tests to screen for these mutation ‘hotspots’ to help doctors to plan the most effective treatment strategies for bowel cancer patients – and this will encourage scientists to also focus their efforts on finding new treatments for patients with faulty K-Ras genes to give them more options.”
Written by Snigdha taduri for Biomed-ME