Rock Creek Pharmaceuticals Inc. (fka RCPIQ)

[Buddhahead]

New study provides links between inflammation and colon cancer metastasis in 'Medical News Today', 25 August 2015

Excerpts:
"A new Arizona State University research study led by Biodesign Institute executive director Raymond DuBois, M.D., Ph.D., has identified for the first time the details of how inflammation triggers colon cancer cells to spread to other organs, or metastasize.

The findings will enable researchers to identify new drug targets for the prevention and treatment of colon cancer. DuBois, a leader in colorectal cancer research for more than two decades, has been exploring the risk factors between chronic inflammation and cancer, including colorectal cancer.

"We've long known that simple things like taking aspirin or other anti-inflammatory drugs (called nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs, or NSAIDs), have beneficial effects on reducing the risk of colorectal cancer," said DuBois. "But non-aspirin NSAIDs can cause serious cardiovascular side effects when taken over a long period of time, so we've needed to discover better drug targets. This study points us in the right direction."

The findings could mean new hope for more effective colorectal cancer treatments and screening methods. Currently, nearly half of patients with advanced colorectal cancer die within five years following treatment. One reason may be that the cancer becomes more chemotherapy resistant, but other evidence has supported the role of inflammation and inflammatory mediators in tumor metastasis.

The research team was able to show how a colon cancer tumor could outwit its host, using an inflammatory mediator to expand its cancer stem cells in order to seek out other organs. They showed a direct link between the pro-inflammatory mediator prostaglandin E2 and increased colorectal cancer stem cells."

Article at:
http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/releases/298587.php?tw