- Bowel cancer, or colon cancer, is currently the third most common cancer in the world.
- Cases of colon cancer in younger adults are on the rise in many areas of the world.
- Bowel cancer screenings are important to help detect the disease at its earliest stage.
- Researchers have identified a protein in the immune system that could be used as a biomarker during colon cancer screenings and potentially slow progression of the disease.
Bowel cancer — also known as colorectal cancer or colon cancer — is currently the
Although colorectal cancer is
Past studies show colon cancer recurrence affects between 30–40% of people treated for this type of cancer.
For this reason,
Researchers at the Australian National University are helping to provide an additional biomarker for future use in improving outcomes at every stage of disease spread.
This specific protein in the immune system, Ku70, can be manipulated to potentially treat colon cancer. The findings were recently published in the journal Science Advances.
Dr. Si Ming Man, group leader and CSL Centenary Fellow in the Division of Immunology and Infectious Disease at the Australian National University and corresponding author of this study explained why it’s important for researchers to continue searching for new ways to treat bowel cancer.
“Despite the progress in developing novel therapeutics, bowel cancer is the [third] leading cause of cancer-related deaths worldwide,” Dr. Man told Medical News Today.
“Given the high mortality and increasing incidence — especially in the
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