Protein may have link to colon Cancer..

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Protein May Have Link to Colon Cancer

By LINDSEY TANNER

 

 

CHICAGO (AP) - High blood levels of a protein linked to heart attacks might

also be an early warning sign of colon cancer, a study found.

 

The substance is C-reactive protein, or CRP, which is produced in the liver

in response to infection or inflammation anywhere in the body. In recent years,

doctors have come to believe that high levels of CRP in the bloodstream raise

the risk of a heart attack by damaging blood vessel walls.

 

In a study of 22,887 adults, those with the highest levels of CRP were more

than twice as likely to develop colon cancer over an 11-year period as those

with the lowest CRP levels.

 

High CRP levels were strongly linked with colon cancer even after other risk

factors such as age, family history, being overweight and smoking were taken

into account.

 

 

 

The study was led by Dr. Thomas Erlinger of Johns Hopkins Medical

Institutions and appears in Wednesday's Journal of the American Medical

Association.

 

 

 

People with diseases involving chronic intestinal inflammation, including

ulcerative colitis, are known to face an increased colon cancer risk, and

studies

have shown that aspirin and other anti-inflammatory drugs can reduce that

risk.

 

 

 

The new findings suggest that elevated CRP levels might be a risk factor even

without overt signs of colon inflammation, though Erlinger said it would be

premature to recommend testing CRP as a way to predict a person's colon cancer

risk.

 

 

 

``It will be important for future research to focus on whether and how CRP

measurement could be used to improve current screening and prevention

strategies,'' he said.

 

 

 

The researchers examined medical records of mostly white adults in Washington

County, Md., taking part in an unrelated study. Colon cancer was diagnosed in

131 people during the study. Twenty of the diagnosed patients had the lowest

initial CRP levels. By contrast, 50 colon cancer patients had CRP levels in

the highest range.

 

 

 

Colon cancer will be diagnosed in more than 100,000 people this year,

according to the American Cancer Society. It is one of the most common types of

cancer in industrialized nations.

 

 

 

Screening tests include colonoscopies, which allow doctors to examine the

entire colon through a narrow tube. Eating lots of fruits and vegetables,

avoiding smoking and fatty foods, and getting plenty of exercise can lower the

risk

of colon cancer.

 

 

 

In an accompanying editorial, experts noted that the study does not rule out

the possibility that high CRP levels are a consequence of early colon cancer

rather than a risk factor for the later development of cancer.

 

 

 

Giving aspirin to people with high CRP and watching the outcome could clarify

the issue, said cancer specialist Dr. Boris Pasche at Chicago's Northwestern

University and researcher Charles Serhan at Harvard's Brigham and Women's

Hospital.

 

 

 

On the Net:

 

 

 

JAMA: http://jama.ama-assn.org

 

 

 

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