June 30, 2022
17:00
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An international study, co-led by KU Leuven, has discovered a new type of colon cancer. This offers perspectives for better diagnoses and therapies. “We opened a new box full of possibilities.”
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In recent years, the worldwide breakthrough of single-cell technology, which allows researchers to study individual cells and map their properties, also gave cancer research a boost.
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Researchers at KU Leuven used this technology to analyze the tumor tissue of 100 colorectal cancer patients in great detail. The university was the only European partner to do this together with hospitals in Singapore and South Korea.
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The study, which will be published Thursday afternoon in the renowned journal Nature Genetics, led to the discovery of a new, previously unknown type of colon cancer.
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‘It has been known for decades that colorectal cancer can be caused when the normal growth mechanism of cells goes haywire, causing too many cells to be produced and tumors to develop,’ says Sabine Tejpar, colorectal cancer researcher at UZ Leuven and KU Leuven and co-lead author of the Nature study.
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Cell identity change
‘We have found that in half of the cases of colorectal cancer, another mechanism causes the condition.’
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More specifically, Tejpar and her international colleagues studied the role of mucosal cells (eptihelial cells in the jargon), which have long been known to be the basis of various cancers such as lung, stomach or breast cancer.
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Our discovery challenges 30 years of insights into colorectal cancer.