‘Cross-Talk’ Mechanism Contributes To Colorectal Cancer
November 15, 2009   “We are very excited about these findings,”
says Vladimir Spiegelman, an associate professor of dermatology.
“Drugs could be developed to block this mechanism and prevent
colorectal cancer, which affects millions of people worldwide.”
The research will appear in the current (Nov. 15) Cancer
Research.  Spiegelman and his team study cellular processes that
produce several types of cancer. They have focused recently on
the Wnt signaling pathway, which has been implicated in the vast
majority of all colorectal cancers.  Like all signaling
pathways, this one involves a group of molecules that work in
sequence to perform a specific cell function. At each step along
the way, the molecules perform tasks outlined in the signals
until the job is finally done. If there’s a breakdown anywhere
in the normal process, cancer can occur.  In an earlier paper
published in Nature, Spiegelman’s team described how signals in
the Wnt pathway regulate CRD