Researchers Identify Why Some Colorectal Cancers Respond to Therapy While Others Don’t

Researchers have identified the fact that there are those who have certain defective genes that could be responsible for the fact that radiotherapy works for some but not for other colorectal cancer sufferers.

colorectal cancerResearchers including Dr Laurent Pangon, and Dr Maija Kohonen-Corish found that the defective gene known has MCC had a dual impact of encouraging a tumor to grow but also being more susceptible to radiotherapy, thereby making it easier for the therapy to kill the tumor.

Researchers opined that their research is able to explain the reason why some people respond to radiotherapy treatment but not others.

Also, this research has been able to develop a test that will help to identify those who carry the defective gene and who will not respond to conventional therapy. For these individuals, effective alternative remedies can be devised to treat the cancer sufferers.

These individuals would be helped to save valuable time by starting alternative therapy earlier rather than later, without wasting precious time in trying out therapies that are not going to work.

According to Dr Pangon, this research has particular importance for those who have rectal cancer, because “rectal cancer has a real disparity when it comes to radiotherapy which is not well explained.”