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

Researchers identify variations in 4 genes associated with an increased risk of colorectal cancer

2013-02-21
(Press-News.org) SEATTLE – An international research team co-led by cancer prevention researcher Ulrike "Riki" Peters, Ph.D., M.P.H., and biostatistician Hsu Li, Ph.D., at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center has identified variations in four genes that are linked to an increased risk of colorectal cancer. Peters and colleagues from 40 institutes throughout the world published their findings online ahead of the April print issue of Gastroenterology.

Peters and colleagues for the past four years have been studying the genes linked to colorectal cancer through the Genetics and Epidemiology of Colorectal Cancer Consortium, a collaboration involving researchers from North America, Australia and Europe who have pooled data from approximately 40,000 study participants, about half of whom have colorectal cancer. Fred Hutch houses GECCO's coordinating center and Peters is its principal investigator.

The genomewide-association study was conducted in two phases. The first involved rapidly scanning complete sets of blood DNA from 12,696 people with colorectal cancer or a precancerous condition called adenoma. This data was then compared to the same set of variants from 15,113 healthy controls of European descent.

Of 2.7 million genetic variants identified, the 10 most statistically significant mutations associated with colorectal cancer were then further analyzed in a follow-up genomewide-association study of 3,056 colorectal cancers or adenomas and colon-tissue samples from 6,658 healthy controls of European and Asian descent.

The research team uncovered mutations in the following genes – all genetic variants that previously had not been associated with colorectal cancer: NABP – a gene involved in DNA repair LAMC1 – the second gene in the laminin gene family found to be associated with colorectal cancer CCND2 – a gene involved in cell-cycle control, which is a key control mechanism to prevent cancer development TBX3 – a gene transcription factor that targets a known colorectal cancer pathway

If a person carries one or two copies of any of these genetic variants, their risk of colorectal cancer is increased by 10 percent to 40 percent compared to a person who does not harbor such DNA genetic variants, Peters said.

"These findings could potentially lead to new drug targets and, in combination with previously identified genetic and environmental risk factors, identify subgroups of the population that can benefit most from colorectal-cancer screening and could be targeted for early or more frequent endoscopy, a very effective screening tool for colorectal cancer," said Peters, a member of the Public Health Sciences Division at Fred Hutch.

INFORMATION:

GECCO is funded by the National Cancer Institute, the National Institutes of Health and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

At Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center, home to three Nobel laureates, interdisciplinary teams of world-renowned scientists seek new and innovative ways to prevent, diagnose and treat cancer, HIV/AIDS and other life-threatening diseases. Fred Hutch's pioneering work in bone marrow transplantation led to the development of immunotherapy, which harnesses the power of the immune system to treat cancer with minimal side effects. An independent, nonprofit research institute based in Seattle, Fred Hutch houses the nation's first and largest cancer prevention research program, as well as the clinical coordinating center of the Women's Health Initiative and the international headquarters of the HIV Vaccine Trials Network. Private contributions are essential for enabling Fred Hutch scientists to explore novel research opportunities that lead to important medical breakthroughs. For more information visit www.fhcrc.org or follow Fred Hutch on Facebook, Twitter or YouTube.

END



ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:

Prescription problems for vets on reflux drug

2013-02-21
CHICAGO --- U.S. veterans diagnosed with gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD) are frequently prescribed doses of proton pump inhibitors (PPIs), such as omeprazole (commonly known by brand names such as Prilosec), that are much higher than recommended --- and they are kept on the drug far too long, according to a new Northwestern Medicine® study. PPIs are among the most widely used drugs in the nation, resulting in more than $11 billion in annual direct health care costs in the U.S. PPI overuse has been documented in previous studies, but this is the first study to examine ...

NASA's SDO observes fast-growing sun spot

NASAs SDO observes fast-growing sun spot
2013-02-21
As magnetic fields on the sun rearrange and realign, dark spots known as sunspots can appear on its surface. Over the course of Feb. 19-20, 2013, scientists watched a giant sunspot form in under 48 hours. It has grown to over six Earth diameters across but its full extent is hard to judge since the spot lies on a sphere not a flat disk. The spot quickly evolved into what's called a delta region, in which the lighter areas around the sunspot, the penumbra, exhibit magnetic fields that point in the opposite direction of those fields in the center, dark area. This is a fairly ...

NASA's SDO shows a little rain on the sun

2013-02-21
VIDEO: On July 19, 2012, an eruption occurred on the sun that produced a moderately powerful solar flare and a dazzling magnetic display known as coronal rain. Hot plasma in the... Click here for more information. Eruptive events on the sun can be wildly different. Some come just with a solar flare, some with an additional ejection of solar material called a coronal mass ejection (CME), and some with complex moving structures in association with changes in magnetic field lines ...

Regenstrief study: Informatics tools underutilized in prevention of hospital-acquired infection

Regenstrief study: Informatics tools underutilized in prevention of hospital-acquired infection
2013-02-21
INDIANAPOLIS -- Advances in electronic medical record systems and health information exchange are shifting efforts in public health toward greater use of information systems to automate disease surveillance, but a study from the Regenstrief Institute has found that these technologies' capabilities are underutilized by those on the front lines of preventing and reporting infections. The new study measured the awareness, adoption and use of electronic medical record systems and health information exchange by hospital-based infection preventionists (formerly known as infection ...

3 NASA satellites see wide-eyed Cyclone Haruna

3 NASA satellites see wide-eyed Cyclone Haruna
2013-02-21
VIDEO: The TRMM satellite flew above Haruna on Feb. 20 at 0717 UTC. Some powerful storms Haruna's northern edge showed rainfall over 108 mm (~4.25 inches) per hour and cloud tops... Click here for more information. Cyclone Haruna strengthened into a cyclone and quickly developed an eye that became apparent on visible and infrared imagery from NASA's Aqua satellite. NASA's TRMM satellite analyzed Haruna's heavy rainfall, and NASA and NOAA's Suomi NPP satellite captured a ...

Low-pitched song indicates fairy-wren size

Low-pitched song indicates fairy-wren size
2013-02-21
AUDIO: This is an example of a trill song type that tells listeners how big the singer is. Their larger physical size means that bigger male purple-crowned fairy-wrens can sing this... Click here for more information. A male fairy-wren's low pitch song indicates body size, a new international study has shown. The study led by University of Melbourne researcher Dr Michelle Hall, is the first to show that the larger the male fairy wren, the lower the pitch of his song. "This ...

Genome-wide imaging study identifies new gene associated with Alzheimer's plaques

Genome-wide imaging study identifies new gene associated with Alzheimers plaques
2013-02-21
INDIANAPOLIS -- A study combining genetic data with brain imaging, designed to identify genes associated with the amyloid plaque deposits found in Alzheimer's disease patients, has not only identified the APOE gene -- long associated with development of Alzheimer's -- but has uncovered an association with a second gene, called BCHE. A national research team, led by scientists at the Indiana University School of Medicine, reported the results of the study in an article in Molecular Psychiatry posted online Tuesday. The study is believed to be the first genome-wide association ...

Researchers say sunlight yields more efficient carbon dioxide to methanol model

Researchers say sunlight yields more efficient carbon dioxide to methanol model
2013-02-21
Researchers from The University of Texas at Arlington are pioneering a new method for using carbon dioxide, or CO2, to make liquid methanol fuel by using copper oxide nanowires and sunlight. The process is safer, simpler and less expensive than previous methods to convert the greenhouse gas associated with climate change to a useful product, said Krishnan Rajeshwar, interim associate vice president for research at UT Arlington and one of the authors of a paper recently published in the journal Chemical Communications. Researchers began by coating the walls of copper oxide, ...

A simple view of gravity does not fully explain the distribution of stars in crowded clusters

2013-02-21
Gravity remains the dominant force on large astronomical scales, but when it comes to stars in young star clusters the dynamics in these crowded environments cannot be simply explained by the pull of gravity. After analyzing Hubble Space Telescope images of star cluster NGC 1818 in the Large Magellanic Cloud, a satellite galaxy of the Milky Way, researchers at the Kavli Institute for Astronomy and Astrophysics (KIAA) at Peking University in Beijing found more binary star systems toward the periphery of cluster than in the center – the opposite of what they expected. The ...

Background checks, permanent records needed for all firearm transfers, not just gun sales by retailers

2013-02-21
(SACRAMENTO, Calif.) — Gun violence in the United States can be substantially reduced if Congress expands requirements for background checks on retail gun sales to cover firearm transfers between private parties, a new report by the director of the UC Davis Violence Prevention Research Program concludes. The report "Background Checks for Firearm Transfers" by Garen Wintemute, who also serves as a professor of emergency medicine, notes that 40 percent of U.S. gun transactions occur between unlicensed private parties, such as people buying and selling at gun shows. That ...

LAST 30 PRESS RELEASES:

Obesity-related cancer rising among both younger and older adults worldwide

A 'Rosetta Stone' for molecular systems

What goes up must come down – scientists unearth “universal thermal performance curve” that shackles evolution

Physical activity increases total daily energy use, study shows

National study finds public Montessori programs strengthens early learning outcomes -- at sharply lower costs compared to traditional preschool

National poll: 1 in 10 young children play outdoors as little as once a week

How do people learn new facts?

Exploring how storytelling strategies shape memories

How people process mental images versus real-life visuals 

Blood test could help predict blood pressure after weight loss surgery in teens

Ultra-endurance athletes test the metabolic limits of the human body

Revealing the 'carbon hoofprint' of meat consumption for American cities

Like radar, a brain wave sweeps a cortical region to read out information held in working memory

Resistance to epilepsy treatments may wane over time

Precision reprogramming: How AI tricks cancer’s toughest cells

US physician Medicare program participation and exit, 2013-2023

A direct-to-patient digital health program for lung cancer screening

Belgian scientists discover how cells protect our skin from inflammatory disease – paving the way for new treatments

Effectiveness of colchicine for the treatment of long COVID

Distance to care and telehealth abortion demand after Dobbs

Epidural electrical stimulation for functional recovery in incomplete spinal cord injury

Transformative eye research expands donor pool for corneal transplant patients

Retinal implant restores central vision in patients with advanced AMD, study co-led by Pitt investigator shows

Eye prosthesis is the first to restore sight lost to macular degeneration

Pioneering eye device restores reading vision to blind eyes

Subretinal implant partially restores vision in AMD patients

3D printed antenna arrays developed for flexible wireless systems

When is the brain like a subway station? When it’s processing many words at once

Important phenomenon discovered in the Arctic – could boost marine life

New white paper urges policymakers to modernize practice laws to unlock AI’s full potential in healthcare

[Press-News.org] Researchers identify variations in 4 genes associated with an increased risk of colorectal cancer