Genes reveal if chemo will help colon cancer patients [Video]

SAN FRANCISCO (KCBS RADIO) – As colon cancer rates increase among young people, researchers from University of Miami Miller School of Medicine have made a new discovery that could help doctors treat patients battling the disease.

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While any people with stage 2 or stage 3 colon cancer receive additional, or adjuvant, chemotherapy following surgery, clinical trials have shown it doesn’t improve the chances of survival for every patient, explained a press release from the university. Dr. Steven Chen, a researcher at Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center, led a study published in the Cell Reports Medicine journal that aimed to unravel this mystery.

His team identified and validated “a 10-gene biomarker that potentially predicts whether a stage 2 or stage 3 colon cancer patient will benefit from adjuvant chemotherapy.”

Last spring, Dr. Katherine Van Loon, an associate professor and gastrointestinal oncologist at the Helen Diller Family Comprehensive Cancer Center at UCSF, joined KCBS Radio’s “As Prescribed…