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(Best Syndication News) Researchers in the United States report that there is a link between a gene variation and colon cancer. It is hoped that a screening or diagnostic tool can be developed.

Previous studies have found that there is an association between obesity and colorectal cancer. If a person has a gene for a protein hormone that is secreted by fat cells he or she is at a reduced risk for colorectal cancer. The hormone, Adiponectin which is secreted by the fat tissue, is inversely proportional to obesity and high levels of insulin.

First Study

Virginia G. Kaklamani, M.D., D.Sc., of the Feinberg School of Medicine, Northwestern University, Chicago, and colleagues did the investigation. They enrolled 441 patients with colorectal cancer and 658 controls in one study. They were all of Ashkenazi Jewish ancestry and from New York.

Second Study

In their second case-control study they enrolled 199 patients with colorectal cancer and 199 controls from Chicago, matched 1:1 for sex, age and ethnicity. “In this clinic-based case-control analysis, we found an association between 1 single-nucleotide polymorphism [SNP; a gene variation] of the ADIPOQ gene (rs266729) and colorectal cancer risk in 2 separate case-control studies, as well as in the combined analysis of both studies after adjustment for age, sex and other SNPs,” Kaklamani and her colleagues wrote.

Conclusion

“While there is evidence of an association between circulating adiponectin levels and colorectal cancer risk, no association between genes of the adiponectin pathway and colorectal cancer have been reported to date,” the authors wrote.

The studies were conducted to find the association between variations of the adiponectin (ADIPOQ) and adiponectin receptor 1 (ADIPOR1) genes and colorectal cancer risk.

Their findings suggest that the ADIPOQ gene may harbor SNPs/mutations susceptible to modify colorectal cancer risk. “If these exciting results can be confirmed in other studies, the adiponectin axis may emerge as an important modifier of colorectal cancer risk. Future studies will need to address the potential impact of adiponectin and its SNPs in the prognosis of colorectal cancer and also may be incorporated in genetic risk models for the disease.”

The study is published in the October 1 issue of JAMA.

By Marsha Quinn
Best Syndication News Health Writer