Awareness of symptoms/risk factors for colorectal cancer is low

A new study by Dr. Emily Power and colleagues, published in the journal BMC Cancer , indicates that awareness of the symptoms or risk factors for colorectal cancer is low.

Participants were asked to recall the symptoms of colorectal cancer (changes in normal bowel habit, rectal bleeding, blood in the stool, lump in the abdomen, or unexplained extreme tiredness) and risk factors for colorectal cancer (family history, high consumption of red/processed meat, increased body fat/obesity, or alcohol consumption).

Overall, respondents were able to recall just 1 symptom and 1 risk factor. Women faired better than men in ability to recall symptoms, while men outperformed women in the recall of risk factors. Older participants were more aware of symptoms and risk factors than young participants. While this study was conducted among participants only in the UK, this paper highlights the critical need for increased education of the symptoms and risk factors associated with colorectal cancer.

Clear here to read the paper.

n3 science communications, llc

New mutations found in Head and Neck cancer

Efforts are underway to identify the mutations in tumor cells that may give rise to cancer. Analysis of mutations in tumors from patients with head and neck squamous cell carcinoma (HNSCC) identified some familiar players (TP53, CDKN2A, PTEN, PIK3CA, HRAS ) along with some new faces (NOTCH, IRF6, TP63, CASP8, EZH2).

HNSCC is the 6th most common non-skin cancer. Risk factors that contribute to the development of HNSCC include tobacco, alcohol, and human papilloma virus infection. By comparing the sequence of genes (via a process called exon sequencing) in the tumors of patients with HNSCC with the sequence in normal, non-cancerous cells in their blood, Nicolas Stransky and colleagues have identified new mutations that were not previously known to be altered in HNSCC. These findings, published in Science Express on July 28, 2011 (DOI 10.1126/science.1208130) www.sciencemag.org, offer new insight into the regulation of HNSCC. Further, this data offers potential new targets to attack to prevent continued tumor growth.

n3 science communications

deFEATing cancer

In the quest to understand how cancer develops and is spread, scientists have been searching for the gene, genes, or signaling pathways whose inappropriate expression or mutation results in disease. In a paper published in the new open access journal from Nature, Scientific Reports, Takahashi et. al. have identified a potential initiator of cancer.

They found that a protein called CGI-01 was overexpressed in many cancerous tissues, but faintly expressed, if at all, in normal tissues. This protein, which they renamed FEAT for Faintly Expressed in normal tissues, Aberrant overexpression in Tumors, appears to be turned on in early stages of pre-cancerous lesions or cancer itself. When expressed, FEAT protein inhibits cell death mechanisms, or apoptosis, leading to increased and uncontrolled cell growth. Mice expressing heaps of FEAT protein spontaneously develop either hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), a form of liver cancer, or lymphoma, a blood cancer. More in depth analysis investigating how FEAT actually promotes cancer revealed that FEAT overexpression results in activation of cell signaling cascades, both tyrosine kinase and hedgehog signaling pathways, that have previously been implicated in cancer promotion. May this be a way to detect early stages of cancer development? If this data holds true, it could be a promising detection tool.

Atsushi Takahashi et al, Scientific Reports 1: 15.
http://www.nature.com/srep/index.html

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