Improving Colorectal Cancer Treatment

Main Category: GastroIntestinal / Gastroenterology
Also Included In: Cancer / Oncology;  Colorectal Cancer
Article Date: 29 Jun 2007 - 1:00 PST

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Researchers have provided new information about a protein responsible for colorectal cancer and the target of a potential drug against this cancer.

Called clusterin, this protein has been linked to the development of tumor cells and resistance to cancer therapy, but how it works is not well understood. Pending questions include how this protein is expressed in normal and cancer cells, how it helps cancer cells escape ionizing radiation and chemotherapy, and which patients will benefit from treatment with a drug targeting clusterin.

Claus Lindbjerg Andersen, Torben Falck Orntoft, and colleagues discovered that clusterin is not expressed in normal cells, while in 25 percent of colorectal tumors, the cancer cells contained clusterin. They also showed that the protein is actually made by the cancer cells themselves. These new findings should help improve current therapies against colorectal cancer, especially for patients with tumors producing clusterin, the scientists concluded.

Article:
"Clusterin Expression in Normal Mucosa and Colorectal Cancer,"
by Claus Lindbjerg Andersen, Troels Schepeler, Kasper Thorsen, Karin Birkenkamp-Demtroder, Francisco Mansilla, Lauri A. Aaltonen, Søren Laurberg and Torben Falck Orntoft

From the June 2007 issue of Molecular & Cellular Proteomics (Vol. 6, No. 6): http://www.mcponline.org

The American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology is a nonprofit scientific and educational organization with over 11,900 members in the United States and internationally. Most members teach and conduct research at colleges and universities. Others conduct research in various government laboratories, nonprofit research institutions and industry. The Society's student members attend undergraduate or graduate institutions. Founded in 1906, the Society is based in Bethesda, Maryland, on the campus of the Federation of American Societies for Experimental Biology. The Society's purpose is to advance the science of biochemistry and molecular biology through publication of the Journal of Biological Chemistry, the Journal of Lipid Research, and Molecular and Cellular Proteomics, organization of scientific meetings, advocacy for funding of basic research and education, support of science education at all levels, and promoting the diversity of individuals entering the scientific work force.

American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology