http://sciencenordic.com/protein-found- ... r-patients mounting number of Norwegians are being diagnosed with colon cancer– the fourth most common cancer type in the country.
Most patients can expect a good prognosis if this cancer is diagnosed in an early stage. Eight out of ten can be healed through surgery alone if the cancer is detected before it metastasises to lymph nodes
But up to 25 percent experience a relapse and to date doctors have lacked sufficient ways of determining which patients are in the danger zone.
Division into stages
Cancer patients have long been divided into various clinical stages according to how far the disease has progressed.
In stage 1 and 2 the tumour is local.
In stage 3 it has spread to lymph nodes.
In stage 4 it has spread to other parts of the body.
The discovery of biomarkers has enabled physicians to subdivide patients into further groups within each stage and thus provide treatments which are more individually based.
Found less protein in the tumours
Researchers at Oslo University Hospital, the Radium Hospital, have found a new method for identifying patients who run high risks in stage 2.
The researchers found that the tumours of patients who later suffered relapses totally lacked or had little of a specific protein that is vital for healthy cells.
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