PRESS-NEWS.org - Press Release Distribution
PRESS RELEASES DISTRIBUTION

Hormone loss could be involved in colon cancer

Like diabetes, colon cancer may be caused in part by the loss of 1 hormone, suggesting hormone replacement therapy could stall cancer formation

2014-10-10
(Press-News.org) (PHILADELPHIA) – Some cancers, like breast and prostate cancer, are driven by hormones such as estrogen and testosterone, but to date, there are none that are driven by the lack of a hormone. New evidence suggests that human colon cells may become cancerous when they lose the ability to produce a hormone that helps the cells maintain normal biology. If verified by further studies, it suggests that treating patients at high risk for colon cancer by replacing the hormone guanylin could prevent the development of cancer.

The researchers at Thomas Jefferson University examined colon cancer samples from 281 patients and compared those tissues to nearby colon tissue that wasn't cancerous. They found that guanylin production – measured by number of messenger RNAs for guanylin contained in each cell – decreased 100 to 1,000 times in more than 85 percent of colon cancers tested. They verified their results by also staining for the guanylin hormone production in slices of the tissue samples. They could detect no guanylin hormone in the cancer samples.

In addition, the researchers found that people over 50 years old produced much less of the hormone in their normal colon cells, which could help explain the increase in colon cancer risk in older individuals. The research publishing online October 10th in Cancer, Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention, a journal of the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR).

"The fact that the vast majority of cancers stop producing this hormone leads us to believe that guanylin may be driving the growth of the tumors," says senior author Scott Waldman, M.D., Ph.D., Chair of the Department of Pharmacology & Experimental Therapeutics and the Samuel MV Hamilton Professor at Thomas Jefferson University If confirmed, "We could prevent colon cancer by giving patients hormone replacement therapy with guanylin." Colon cancer is the second leading cause of death from cancer for men and women and expected to cause 50,000 deaths in 2014, according to the American Cancer Society.

Earlier work has shown that guanylin is a locally-acting hormone, produced by the very cells it acts on. Guanylin activates a receptor called GUCY2C (pronounced "goosy toosy" by researchers). GUC2YC signaling is critical to helping replenish the skin cells lining the gut, and maintaining their overall function. Since the skin of the gut turns over about once every 3 days day, the proper control and maintenance of the signals that replenish the skin is essential. Without signals that maintain cell division, aberrant cell division is more likely to occur, which can lead to cancer.

When guanylin is diminished, the cells of the colon produce more GUCY2C receptors in order to try to catch any possible signal from the outside of the cell. As a result, many colon cancers exhibit high numbers of GUCY2C receptors, despite the fact that the receptor no longer receive the hormone signal that help them activate programming that maintains the health and normal function of the cell.

The next steps, says Waldman, are to test whether hormone replacement can prevent colon cancer development and/or growth in mice, which could then be followed by tests in humans. In addition the team is working on understanding how exactly guanylin functions to maintain the normal health of colon cells.

INFORMATION: These studies were supported by grants from the National Institutes of Health (R01 CA75123, R01 CA95026, RC1 CA146033, P30 CA56036, R01 CA170533), the Pennsylvania Department of Health (SAP #4100059197, SAP #4100051723), and Targeted Diagnostic and Therapeutics Inc. The Pennsylvania Department of Health specifically disclaims responsibility for any analyses, interpretations or conclusions. The authors report no conflicts of interest.

For more information, contact Edyta Zielinska, 215-955-5291, edyta.zielinska@jefferson.edu.

About Jefferson Thomas Jefferson University (TJU), the largest freestanding academic medical center in Philadelphia, is nationally renowned for medical and health sciences education and innovative research. Thomas Jefferson University includes the Sidney Kimmel Medical College (SKMC), one of the largest private medical schools in the country and ranked among the nation's best medical schools by U.S. News & World Report, the Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences and the Jefferson Schools of Nursing, Pharmacy, Health Professions, and Population Health. Jefferson University Physicians is TJU's multi-specialty physician practice consisting of the full-time faculty of SKMC. Thomas Jefferson University partners with its clinical affiliate, Thomas Jefferson University Hospitals.

Article Reference: C. Wilson, et al., "The paracrine hormone for the GUCY2C tumor suppressor, guanylin, is universally lost in colorectal cancer," Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers, doi: 10.1158/1055-9965.EPI-14-0440, 2014.


ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:

Elevated cholesterol and triglycerides may increase the risk for prostate cancer recurrence

2014-10-10
PHILADELPHIA — Higher levels of total cholesterol and triglycerides, two types of fat, in the blood of men who underwent surgery for prostate cancer, were associated with increased risk for disease recurrence, according to a study published in Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention, a journal of the American Association for Cancer Research. "While laboratory studies support an important role for cholesterol in prostate cancer, population-based evidence linking cholesterol and prostate cancer is mixed," said Emma Allott, PhD, postdoctoral associate at Duke ...

In-home visits reduce drug use, depression in pregnant teens

2014-10-10
Intensive parenting and health education provided in homes of pregnant American Indian teens reduced the mothers' illegal drug use, depression and behavior problems, and set their young children on track to meet behavioral and emotional milestones they may have otherwise missed. The Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health-led research also suggests that employing local community health educators instead of more formally educated nurses to counsel young at-risk mothers could be cost effective and provide badly needed jobs to high school graduates from the same ...

Bowel cancer risk reduced by adopting multiple healthy behaviors

2014-10-10
Adoption of a combination of five key healthy behaviors is associated with a reduction in the risk of developing bowel cancer. Researchers from the German Institute of Human Nutrition Potsdam-Rehbruecke quantified the impact of combined multiple healthy lifestyle behaviors on the risk of developing bowel cancer, and found that this impact is stronger in men than in women. Lead author, Krasimira Aleksandrova, says: "These data provide additional incentive to individuals, medical professionals and public health authorities to invest in healthy lifestyle initiatives. Each ...

The Lancet Global Health: Widely used sanitation programmes do not necessarily improve health

2014-10-10
The sanitation intervention delivered under the terms of the Government of India's Total Sanitation Campaign—the world's largest sanitation initiative—provided almost 25 000 individuals in rural India with access to a latrine. However, it did not reduce exposure to faecal pathogens or decrease the occurrence of diarrhoea, parasitic worm infections, or child malnutrition. "The programme is effective in building latrines, but not all households participate"*, explains lead author Professor Thomas Clasen from Emory University, Atlanta, USA and the London School ...

Recent kidney policy changes have not created racial disparities in care

2014-10-10
Washington, DC (October 9, 2014) — Recent policy and guideline changes related to the care of patients with kidney failure have not created racial disparities, according to a study appearing in an upcoming issue of the Journal of the American Society of Nephrology (JASN). Such studies are needed to ensure that all patients continue to receive the highest quality of care after such changes are implemented. In 2011, the End-Stage Renal Disease Prospective Payment System went into effect, which changed the way dialysis facilities were paid for care related to kidney ...

Electrically conductive plastics promising for batteries, solar cells

2014-10-10
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. – An emerging class of electrically conductive plastics called "radical polymers" may bring low-cost, transparent solar cells, flexible and lightweight batteries and ultrathin antistatic coatings for consumer electronics and aircraft. Researchers have established the solid-state electrical properties of one such polymer, called PTMA, which is about 10 times more electrically conductive than common semiconducting polymers. "It's a polymer glass that conducts charge, which seems like a contradiction because glasses are usually insulators," said ...

Migrating animals' pee affects ocean chemistry

2014-10-09
The largest migration on the planet is the movement of small animals from the surface of the open ocean, where they feed on plants under cover of darkness, to the sunless depths where they hide from predators during the day. University of Washington researchers have found that this regular migration helps shape our oceans. During the daylight hours below the surface the animals release ammonia, the equivalent of our urine, that turns out to play a significant role in marine chemistry, particularly in low-oxygen zones. Results are published online this week in the Proceedings ...

Penn Medicine's 'sepsis sniffer' generates faster sepsis care and suggests reduced mortality

Penn Medicines sepsis sniffer generates faster sepsis care and suggests reduced mortality
2014-10-09
PHILADELPHIA - An automated early warning and response system for sepsis developed by Penn Medicine experts has resulted in a marked increase in sepsis identification and care, transfer to the ICU, and an indication of fewer deaths due to sepsis. A study assessing the tool is published online in the Journal of Hospital Medicine. Sepsis is a potentially life-threatening complication of an infection; it can severely impair the body's organs, causing them to fail. There are as many as three million cases of severe sepsis and 750,000 resulting deaths in the United States ...

Manipulating memory with light

Manipulating memory with light
2014-10-09
Just look into the light: not quite, but researchers at the UC Davis Center for Neuroscience and Department of Psychology have used light to erase specific memories in mice, and proved a basic theory of how different parts of the brain work together to retrieve episodic memories. Optogenetics, pioneered by Karl Diesseroth at Stanford University, is a new technique for manipulating and studying nerve cells using light. The techniques of optogenetics are rapidly becoming the standard method for investigating brain function. Kazumasa Tanaka, Brian Wiltgen and colleagues ...

Space-based methane maps find largest US signal in Southwest

2014-10-09
ANN ARBOR—An unexpectedly high amount of the climate-changing gas methane, the main component of natural gas, is escaping from the Four Corners region in the U.S. Southwest, according to a new study by the University of Michigan and NASA. The researchers mapped satellite data to uncover the nation's largest methane signal seen from space. They measured levels of the gas emitted from all sources, and found more than half a teragram per year coming from the area where Arizona, New Mexico, Colorado and Utah meet. That's about as much methane as the entire coal, oil, ...

LAST 30 PRESS RELEASES:

Thirty-year mystery of dissonance in the “ringing” of black holes explained

Less intensive works best for agricultural soil

Arctic rivers project receives “national champion” designation from frontiers foundation

Computational biology paves the way for new ALS tests

Study offers new hope for babies born with opioid withdrawal syndrome

UT, Volkswagen Group of America celebrate research partnership

New Medicare program could dramatically improve affordability for cancer drugs – if patients enroll

Are ‘zombie’ skin cells harmful or helpful? The answer may be in their shapes

University of Cincinnati Cancer Center presents research at AACR 2025

Head and neck, breast, lung and survivorship studies headline Dana-Farber research at AACR Annual Meeting 2025

AACR: Researchers share promising results from MD Anderson clinical trials

New research explains why our waistlines expand in middle age

Advancements in muon detection: Taishan Antineutrino Observatory's innovative top veto tracker

Chips off the old block

Microvascular decompression combined with nerve combing for atypical trigeminal neuralgia

Cutting the complexity from digital carpentry

Lung immune cell type “quietly” controls inflammation in COVID-19

Fiscal impact of expanded Medicare coverage for GLP-1 receptor agonists to treat obesity

State and sociodemographic trends in US cigarette smoking with future projections

Young adults drive historic decline in smoking

NFCR congratulates Dr. Robert C. Bast, Jr. on receiving the AACR-Daniel D. Von Hoff Award for Outstanding Contributions to Education and Training in Cancer Research

Chimpanzee stem cells offer new insights into early embryonic development

This injected protein-like polymer helps tissues heal after a heart attack

FlexTech inaugural issue launches, pioneering interdisciplinary innovation in flexible technology

In Down syndrome mice, 40Hz light and sound improve cognition, neurogenesis, connectivity

Methyl eugenol: potential to inhibit oxidative stress, address related diseases, and its toxicological effects

A vascularized multilayer chip reveals shear stress-induced angiogenesis in diverse fluid conditions

AI helps unravel a cause of Alzheimer's disease and identify a therapeutic candidate

Coalition of Autism Scientists critiques US Department of Health and Human Services Autism Research Initiative

Structure dictates effectiveness, safety in nanomedicine

[Press-News.org] Hormone loss could be involved in colon cancer
Like diabetes, colon cancer may be caused in part by the loss of 1 hormone, suggesting hormone replacement therapy could stall cancer formation