Hope for early bowel cancer DNA test

NOTICE:

Scientists have discovered what could be the first step towards a DNA test to detect the early signs of bowel cancer.

Tests on two distinct genes were highly accurate in distinguishing between tumours and benign polyps - growths in the bowel that can become cancerous.

While not all polyps in the bowel become cancerous it is thought almost all bowel cancers develop from polyps.

The Cambridge study, in the BMJ journal Gut, analysed 261 samples from patients with benign polyps or bowel cancer.

In particular it looked at what are called DNA methylation patterns - a key process in cell development.

'Improve survival'

Dr Lesley Walker, Cancer Research UK's director of cancer information, says the research opens up the possibility of much earlier diagnosis of bowel cancer, when it is easier to treat.

"We've come a long way in improving screening and developing better treatments - our scientists have been involved in testing many drugs that are used to treat bowel cancer and they've had a key role in pinning down the genetic causes of the disease.

"But there is still more to be done. Research like this is vital in our goal to develop the best methods to detect, monitor and treat cancer and improve survival."

More than 38,000 people in the UK are diagnosed with the disease each year.

My comment:

When I found this notice I was filled with happiness. The notices like this give me a lot of hope, maybe in not much time the cancers will be cured easily. The science of medicine is moving very fast, so I hope that this investigation will not stall and will improve a lot our lifes. I think that if this investigation have succes the scientifics will be able to do the same with all the cancers and not only with the cancer of the bowel. If that happen our life expectancy will improve a lot.

One friend of my parent died the last year because a cancer of lung, that friend was also my friend and I had a very bad time when he died. I hope that this never repeat in my life, I want someone to be able to cure the cancers of all the ill persons. I would like this investigation to be succesful.