Could loss of a hormone drive colon cancer? - Medical News Today

A new study suggests that colon cells may become cancerous when they lose the ability to produce a hormone essential for maintaining their normal biology. If this finding is verified in subsequent studies, then colon cancer will be distinct as the only cancer driven by the lack of a hormone.diagram showing the colon
If the signals that replenish the skin of the gut are unable to maintain cell division, then it becomes more likely that cell division will be irregular and lead to cancer.

The research was conducted by a team at Thomas Jefferson University in Philadelphia, PA, and they publish their findings in the journal Cancer, Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention.

Colon cancer samples were taken from 281 patients and compared with non-cancerous colon tissue from the same patients.

The researchers found that production of the hormone guanylin was decreased by 100-1,000 times in 85% of the colon cancers tested.

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