New Colorectal Cancer Risk Factor Found

U.S. scientists have determined one of the seven genetic risk factors for prostate cancer also might be a risk factor for colorectal cancer.

Researchers at the Keck School of Medicine at the University of Southern California said their finding is important because, for the first time, a common genetic risk factor for multiple cancers has been identified.

There appears to be something fundamental occurring (in the region of the human genome devoid of known genes on chromosome 8) that influences not only colorectal and prostate cancer, but perhaps cancers in general, said Assistant Professor Christopher Haiman, lead author of the study.

Having previously identified several genetic risk factors related to prostate cancer, and now having identified one of these same variants as predictive of colorectal cancer risk, brings us closer to our long-term goal of developing a model that more precisely pinpoints who is at greater risk for developing colorectal, prostate, and other cancers, said Dr. Brian Henderson, dean of the Keck School and co-author of the colorectal cancer study.

The study appears in the online edition of the journal Nature Genetics.