Genome-wide search points to new bowel cancer gene
Researchers from London and Edinburgh have discovered a common genetic change which increases bowel cancer risk by 20%. The research, published in Nature Genetics, shows that 1 in 2 people carry the variation, making it the first common genetic link to bowel cancer.
Although the variation does not confer a high enough risk to warrant a genetic test, it is 'an important first step’, said Professor Ian Tomlinson of Cancer Research UK, who co-leads the London arm of the study. However 'we still have a long way to go before we have a complete picture of all the genes involved,' he added.
To narrow down their search, the researchers started by tagging or highlighting all the ‘single letter’ changes that occurred more frequently in the DNA of a relatively small group of people, half of which had bowel cancer. Next they scaled up the study, repeating the tagging process many times, to see which regions were most strongly linked to bowel cancer, leading to the discovery. In the hunt for the gene, the two teams scanned the entire genome of more than 30,000 people.
'Patients will be very excited to know that this research helps us to identify why at least 10% of people are at risk from the disease’, Dr Rob Glynne Jones, Chief Medical Advisor at Bowel Cancer UK, told the BBC.
Harpal Kumar, Chief Executive of the study’s funder Cancer Research UK, is optimistic about the future. 'We hope studies like this across a range of cancers will help people at increased risk of developing the disease through the development of tailored screening and treatment programmes’, he said.
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