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New biomarkers for predicting the spread of colon cancer
Source: (cancerfacts.com)
Monday, March 08, 2010
HANGZHOU, China – Mar. 8, 2010 – Two proteins present in the blood of people with colon cancer may accurately serve as markers to predict whether the disease will spread, say scientists in China.
In the study led by Maode Lai, Department of Pathology & Pathophysiology School of Medicine Zhejiang University, the researchers report their discovery in the American Chemical Society's Journal of Proteome Research.
Surgery is the main method of treating colon cancer, however, half of colon cancer patients undergoing surgery develop a recurrence of the disease within five years due to its spread, or metastasis, to other parts of the body. The spread of colon cancer can be difficult to detect and there are currently no reliable chemical markers in the body for predicting its spread, the scientists say.
In an effort to identify useful biomarkers for tracking the spread of colon cancer, the scientists compared proteins produced by primary, or original, tumor cells to those of metastasized cells from a single individual with colon cancer.
They then examined tissues samples taken from 144 colorectal cancer patients and 156 people without cancer and compared the two to the sample taken from the pair of patients. From those samples they identified a total of 714 proteins common to both sets of tissue samples and from the initial cancer patient. Using a number of chemical analysis tests, they winnowed that down to 145 proteins that were good candidates for markers of cancer spread. They then classified these proteins according to their functions in the cell, some were involved in signaling within the cell and others involved in cell division, and so on.
They found that eight of the proteins were highly involved in key cell functions called differentiation and cytoskeleton organization. Cell differentiation is the process of maturing that a cell goes through to become a functioning cell that performs a specific function. Cytoskeleton organization is the process of forming the internal cell structure, much like the skeleton in the body.
When they looked for these eight proteins among the 144 cancer patients and compared the patients who had the cancer spread to lymph nodes to those with cancer that had not spread to lymph nodes, they found two of the proteins were more common in the metastatic patients, indicating the two proteins might be potential biomarkers for colorectal cancer metastasis. The proteins are labeled TFF3 or GDF15.
The researchers say more research will be needed to validate the usefulness of TFF3 or GDF15 in cancer patients to predict metastasis and then develop a laboratory test that will be clinically useful.
The researchers are hopeful that their discovery will help doctors know whether a colorectal cancer tumor is more likely to spread and should be treated more aggressively, or whether patients' tumors are not likely to spread, thus sparing them more toxic treatments if they don't have the biomarkers.
SOURCE: J. Proteome Res., 2010, 9 (1), pp 545–555
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