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medpundit |
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Friday, March 14, 2003The procedure works by looking for characteristic genetic changes that often lead to the most common kind of colon cancer. These occur in a gene called IGF2, which produces an insulin-like growth factor, and are one of the first genetic changes seen in 40 per cent of colon tumours. In the study, Professor Feinberg’s team examined blood samples from patients who had had a colonoscopy, who had had colon cancer, who had pre-cancerous polyps, or who had a family history of colon cancer. They found that a change to the IGF2 gene, known as loss of imprinting (LOI), was much more frequent in high-risk patients than in the general population. People with a family history of colon cancer were five times as likely to have LOI markers in their blood. Those who had polyps were three and a half times more likely to have LOI markers, and those who had had colon cancer were 22 times more likely. If it pans out, this is great news. We could use it to focus our colonscopies (expensive and uncomfortable) on those who test positive, rather than screening everyone. That is, if the blood test turns out to be specific enough for the disease to be a good screening test. posted by Sydney on 3/14/2003 07:56:00 AM 0 comments 0 Comments: |
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