February 3, 2004
More Study Needed on Protein-Cancer Link
CHICAGO --- A preliminary study suggests that persistent inflammation,
as indicated by increased levels of C-reactive protein in the blood,
is a risk factor for the development of colon cancer.
However, according to an editorial by Northwestern University researcher Boris
Pasche, M.D., the link between chronic inflammation and colon cancer must be
further explored before C-reactive protein is confirmed as a risk predictor.
The study and the editorial appear in the Feb. 4 issue of The
Journal of the American Medical Association.
Pasche, a
hematologist/oncologist, is assistant professor of medicine at
the Feinberg School of Medicine and director of cancer
genetics at The Robert H. Lurie Comprehensive Cancer Center of
Northwestern University. Pasche’s co-author on the editorial
was Charles N. Serhan, Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Harvard
Medical School, Boston.
C-reactive protein is produced primarily in the liver and is
a marker of inflammation. It was discovered about 70 years ago
as a marker of infection in patients with pneumonia. Recent studies
have shown that increased levels of C-reactive protein may also
be predictive of heart attack and other cardiovascular events and
may play a role in the development of some forms of cancer, including
colon cancer.
The JAMA study followed for 10 years almost 23,000 individuals
who had provided a blood sample in 1989. The authors found that
in 131 persons who later developed colon cancer, the concentration
of C-reactive protein was significantly higher than that among
a healthy control group. Among rectal cancer cases, levels of C-reactive
protein were not significantly different from those in the normal
group.
“More than 70 years after being discovered in patients
with pneumonia, C-reactive protein is now linked with one of the
most common forms of cancer,” Pasche said.
Pasche said results of the study will stimulate research to further
explore the relationship between inflammation and colon cancer.
the future of C-reactive protein as a marker of colon cancer risk
remains to be further defined. |