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Researchers Claim To Have Found Colon Cancer Biomarker

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University of Cincinnati environmental health researchers Xiang Zhang, left, and Shuk-mei Ho, say a pair of missing genes may help doctors predict who will come down with colon cancer and how aggressive the disease may be.

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Published: January 20, 2009

Updated:

A pair of genetic abnormalities could help doctors determine who might have colon cancer and how aggressive the malignancy might be.

A team of scientists at the University of Cincinnati says the two of areas of missing genetic material they have discovered, dubbed "hotspots," could be biomarkers for colon cancer.

A genetic marker is a sequence of the genetic material DNA with a known location on a chromosome. When the presence or absence of a genetic marker becomes associated with a particular disease it is known as a biomarker.

Lab tests that detect biomarkers can give doctors early warnings that their patients have cancer or other diseases.

Writing in the Jan. 16 edition of the journal PLoS Genetics, the Cincinnati researchers say the hotspots they discovered play a role in the production of a protein with the tongue-twisting name alpha-methylacyl-CoA racemase.

AMACR, as the protein is known, plays a role in the breakdown of a class of molecules known as branched-chain fatty acids. Found in animals that eat plants, branched-chain fatty acids have previously been implicated in spurring the growth of some types of cancer although a direct link has not been proved.

The study, led by Cincinnati environmental health researchers Xiang Zhang and Shuk-mei Ho, is thought to be the first to shed light on the regulation of the AMACR gene in relation to the development of colon cancer. The UC team's work is also thought to provide the first look at a genetic event related to colon cancer.

Previously, a number of research groups reported discovering an AMACR biomarker for cancer of the prostate.

The UC team used a sophisticated technique known as laser-capture microdissection to isolate colon cancer cells without altering their structure or chemistry. This allowed the gene sequencing that led to the discovery of the genetic abnormalities within colon cancer cells.

"Our hope is that this new knowledge will help us develop better diagnostic tools for colon cancer," says Zhang.

In addition, "If a person carries one of the deletions, it may predispose him or her to a more aggressive type of colon cancer," Zhang says.

The research could also help doctors better advise people about diet choices that could influence their risk of developing colon cancer. Red meat and diary products contain branched-chain fatty acids, and people whose diets have lots of red meat and not much fiber are thought to have a higher colon cancer risk.

As a result, people found to have the genetic hotspots associated with abnormal AMACR gene expression might be able to lower their colon cancer risk by reducing their intake of branched-chain fatty acids.

"We need to start paying closer attention to how the environment we live in and the things we put in our bodies interact with our genetic makeup to influence our cancer risk," Ho says.

The UC team is now planning a multicenter study to expand on its researcher on AMACR and colon cancer.

Its work is funded by the National Institutes of Health and U.S. Army Prostate Cancer Program.

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