Scientists in Scotland are to use pioneering technology to try to find new ways of diagnosing and treating bowel cancer. The University of Aberdeen has been given a grant of more than £105,000 to examine proteins in bowel cancer cells.

They will use a new technology called proteomics to look for changes in proteins at various stages of tumour growth.

About 3,500 people a year in Scotland are diagnosed with bowel cancer.

Prof Graeme Murray, of the university’s department of pathology, who is leading the research, said cells have a complex internal mechanism involving many different protein molecules which carry out a wide range of functions.

‘Characteristic changes’

He said: “There are known to be small but important differences in the proteins found in normal and cancer cells.

“We will use a large collection of bowel cancer samples which have very good information about the stage of each cancer.

“We will look for characteristic changes in the proteins of each to see if we can use this information as a new way to diagnose the stages of this killer cancer.”

Funding for the research has come from the Association for International Cancer Research (AICR).

Dr Mark Matfield, AICR’s scientific adviser, said: “Although the outlook for patients with this type of cancer has improved significantly over the last 20 years, currently only about half of patients survive five years after diagnosis.

“Professor Murray’s work may produce a better understanding of how this type of cancer progresses and lead to better methods of diagnosis and treatment.”

Details : BBC News

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