Scientists Shed New Light on Bowel Cancer Genetic Link
24 April 2009 - European scientists have found a genetic variant which they believe can promote the development of bowel cancer, the second most common cause of cancer death in the UK. The ICR scientists had previously found common genetic variants associated with bowel cancer, but have gone one step further by showing how a precise DNA sequence could cause biological changes that ultimately lead to cancer. This is the first time scientists have provided evidence of how a common genetic variant may promote bowel cancer.
The ICR scientists sequenced the DNA of bowel cancer patients, comparing them with healthy controls and looking for differences between them. They honed in on the genetic variant that conferred the strongest risk of bowel cancer, hypothesising that it was therefore key to driving cancer development.
