Colon Cancer is the Fourth Most Deadly Cancer Globally

Drugs

Only certain cells, those with a protein on the surface called CD133, were able to initiate a new tumour.CD133 had previously been implicated in brain and prostate cancers. In a second study, Ruggero De Maria of the Istituto Superiore di Sanita in Rome and colleagues got the same CD133 cells to start tumours when injected under the skin of immune-deficient mice.

"These studies demonstrate that a small population of colon cancer cells, distinct from those that make up the bulk of a tumour, initiate tumour growth," Nature said.It may be possible to design drugs that attack only those cells, and thus treat colon cancer in a way that better affects the tumours without hurting healthy cells, the researchers said.

Colon cancer is the fourth most deadly cancer globally, killing 655,000 people a year, according to the World Health Organisation.