Treating colon cancer with vitamin A

http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2015-12/epfd-tcc121115.php

Public Release: 14-Dec-2015
Treating colon cancer with vitamin A
Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne

A leading cause of cancer deaths worldwide, colon cancer is famously resistant to treatment. There are many reasons for this, but one has to do with a group of persisting cancer cells in the colon that cause relapses. Conventional therapies against them are mostly ineffective. EPFL scientists have now identified a biological mechanism that can be exploited to counteract colon cancer relapses. The approach activates a protein that is lost in the persisting cancer cells. The researchers were able to reactivate it using vitamin A, thus eliminating the cancer cells and preventing metastasis. The study is published in Cancer Cell, and introduces a new way to treat colon cancer.

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