‘Cancer-halting gene’ discovered

SCIENTISTS in Ireland have discovered a gene which stops colon cancer from spreading, and could lead to a new form of therapy and drug treatments.

A group of researchers from Dublin’s Royal College of Surgeons in Ireland and from the University of Nice in France have discovered that a gene called KCNQ1 actually stunts the growth and speed of cancerous colon tumours.

This discovery is a breakthrough towards developing more effective treatment options for colon cancer patients as scientists have discovered that patients who have the KCNQ1 gene have less chance of relapsing.

Professor Brian Harvey from the Royal College of Surgeons said that the miracle gene works by producing good protein which traps tumour-promoting protein and ultimately stops the growth of more cancerous cells.

This information will also help clinicians choose the most effective treatment for each individual patient.

According to the Royal College of Surgeons, colorectal cancer is the third leading cause of death from cancer globally and in Ireland, almost 2,500 Irish people are diagnosed with bowel cancer annually. It is the second most common cause of cancer death.

Prof. Harvey, commenting on the importance of this new discovery, said: ‘This study has demonstrated the ability of a gene to block the growth of colon cancer cells.

This is an exciting discovery as it opens up the possibility of a new kind of therapy that will target the KCNQ1 gene with drugs and it will also improve diagnostics of colon cancer.

Prof. Harvey added that further research on the KCNQ1 gene will lead to new drug treatments ‘to target the colon specifically, without exposing other tissues in the body to unnecessary chemotherapy’.

The research will be published this week in the prestigious journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the USA (PNAS).