Genes linked to colon cancer take sides
By Ben Harder
From Washington, D.C., at a meeting of the American Association for Cancer Research
Cancers on opposite ends of the colon are genetically distinct, researchers from Denmark and Finland have found. The standard practice of treating them as the same disease could explain why some people with colon cancer respond better to certain treatments than others do, says Sanne H. Olesen of rhus University Hospital in Denmark.
The colon forms an inverted U between the small intestine and the rectum. Some studies have suggested that colon cancers develop differently, depending on whether they originate in the organ’s right or left side. In general, right-side colon cancers are less aggressive and less deadly.