The American Society for Gastrointestinal Endoscopy (ASGE) heralds the recent news of a decline in U.S. cancer deaths and incidence rates, with colorectal cancer among the top three cancers with significant declines. ASGE, representing the specialists in colorectal cancer screening, is excited by the report showing that colorectal cancer deaths among men and women dropped 4.3 percent per year between 2002 and 2005. The incidence rate for colorectal cancer (the rate at which new cancers are diagnosed) dropped 2.8 percent per year among men and dropped 2.2 percent per year among women between 1998 and 2005........

Scientists in the Duke Institute for Genome Sciences and Policy have developed a model for predicting risk of recurrence in early stage patients with colon cancer, and have used the model to also predict sensitivity to chemotherapy and targeted treatment regimens. "These findings have important implications for individualizing treatment," said Katherine Garman, M.D., a gastroenterology fellow at Duke and lead investigator on the study. "By examining gene expression in early-stage colon cancer tumors, we have found certain patterns that seem to put some patients at higher risk for recurrence. By identifying these patients up front, we may be able to treat them in a targeted and proactive manner to prevent this recurrence and help them live longer and healthier lives"........

Screening for colorectal cancer detects four out of ten cancers and should be carefully designed to be more effective, as per a research studypublished recently on bmj.com. About one in 20 people in the UK develop bowel cancer during their lifetime. It is the third most common cancer in the UK and the second leading cause of cancer deaths in Europe and the US........

Research by researchers in France has demonstrated for the first time that identifying patterns of gene expression can be used to predict response to therapy in patients with advanced metastatic colorectal cancer. Dr Maguy Del Rio, a scientist at the Institut de Recherche en Cancrologie de Montpellier (Montpellier, France), presented a study to the 20th EORTC-NCI-AACR Symposium on Molecular Targets and Cancer Therapeutics in Geneva today (Wednesday) [1] in which she and her team had identified an 11-gene signature that could be used to separate those patients who would respond to a particular chemotherapy (FOLFIRI leucovorin, fluorouracil and irinotecan) from those who would not. FOLFIRI is one of the most usually used, first-line therapys for metastatic colorectal cancer........

The first generation of a stool DNA test to identify early colorectal cancer has limitations, as per a Mayo Clinic-led study reported in the Oct. 7, 2008, issue of Annals of Internal Medicine Results did not corroborate findings of an earlier multicenter study that showed stool DNA testing was more accurate than fecal blood testing for colorectal cancer detection. *........

Patients who undergo a complete negative colonoscopy have a reduced occurence rate of colorectal cancer, confirms a study published in Clinical Gastroenterology and Hepatology However, in the proximal colon, the incidence reduction of colorectal cancer following complete negative colonoscopy differs in magnitude and timing. The reduction of colorectal cancer is observed in about half of the 14 follow-up years and for the most part occurs after just seven years of follow-up. Clinical Gastroenterology and Hepatology is the official journal of the American Gastroenterological Association (AGA) Institute........

Scientists at NorthShore University HealthSystem (NorthShore) and Northwestern University have discovered that fiber optic technology can for the very first time effectively measure blood levels in the colonic lining (mucosa) in humans, thus having potential applications for analyzing risk of colon cancer........

Demonstrating that despite the large number of cancer-causing genes already identified, a number of more remain to be found, researchers at Dana-Farber Cancer Institute have linked a previously unsuspected gene, CDK8, to colon cancer. The discovery of CDK8's role in cancer was made possible by new tools for assessing the activity of specific genes, say the authors of the new study. As these tools are further improved, the stream of newly discovered cancer genes is expected to increase, providing new avenues for treatment, the authors suggest. The findings are being published as an advanced online publication by the journal Nature on Sept. 14........

The absence or inactivation of the RUNX3 gatekeeper gene paves the way for the growth and development of colon cancer, Singapore researchers report in the Sept. issue of the journal Cancer Cell Prior studies have shown that RUNX3 plays a role in gastric, breast, lung and bladder cancers. The inactivation of RUNX3 occurs at a very early stage of colon cancer, as per the Singapore scientists' studies with human tissue samples and animal models........

Colorectal adenomas, the precursor polyps in virtually all colorectal cancers, occur infrequently in younger adults, but the rate sharply increases after age 50. Additionally, African Americans have a higher rate of proximal, or right-sided, polyps, and may have a worse prognosis for survival if the polyps become malignant. Therefore, the results of this study further emphasize the importance of colonoscopies, which view the entire colon, for the prevention of colorectal cancer beginning at age 50. The results of this study, which represents the largest investigation, by several-fold, of this kind, were published in Clinical Gastroenterology and Hepatology, the official journal of the American Gastroenterological Association (AGA) Institute........

Eventhough colorectal cancer screening tests are proven to reduce colorectal cancer mortality, only about half of U.S. men and women 50 and older receive the recommended tests, as per a report in the July 2008 issue of Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers and Prevention, a journal of the American Association for Cancer Research........

A probe so sensitive that it can tell whether or not a cell living within the human body is veering towards cancer development may revolutionize how future colonoscopies are done, say scientists from the Mayo Clinic in Jacksonville, Fla. Investigators have observed that technology known as a high resolution confocal endomicroscopy probe system can determine whether a colon polyp is non-malignant (not premalignant) - without having to remove it for examination by a pathologist........

A new study being presented at the American Society of Clinical Oncology meeting in Chicago (Abstract #4020), may change therapy practice in about 25 percent of colon cancer patients and is the basis for proposed changes to the way colorectal cancers will be staged. This new study, using National Cancer Institute (NCI) SEER population-based statistic registries from 1992 to 2004, and phase III clinical trial data, shows that outcomes of patients with positive nodes (Stage III) in colorectal cancer interact, to a greater extent than previously thought, with how deeply the cancer penetrates the bowel wall........

A gene mutation responsible for the most common form of inherited colon cancer is older and more common than formerly believed, as per a recent study. The findings provide a better understanding of the spread and prevalence of the American Founder Mutation, a common cause in North America of Lynch syndrome, a hereditary cancer syndrome that greatly increases a persons risk for developing cancers of the colon, uterus and ovaries........

Smoking puts older women at significant risk for loss of DNA repair proteins that are critical for defending against development of some colorectal cancers, as per research from a team led by Mayo Clinic scientists. In a study being presented at the annual meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR), the scientists observed that women who smoked were at increased risk for developing colorectal tumors that lacked some or all of four proteins, known as DNA mismatch repair (MMR) proteins. These proteins keep cells lining the colon and rectum healthy because they recognize and repair genetic damage as well as mistakes that occur during cell division........

Some colon cancers are destined to spread to the liver and other parts of the body, whereas others are successfully treated by surgical removal of the tumor. Now, Howard Hughes Medical Institute researchers have observed that the ability of a colon tumor to metastasize arises early in its development........