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Toronto – Until now it was already known that obesity was a risk factor for the occurrence of colon cancer. For the first time, however, a study has discovered the genetic link that connects the two phenomena. The ‘failure’ appears to be a protein that secrete fatty tissues, and whose discovery could serve as a predictive tool for high-risk patients.

A group of researchers from the university of Chicago, Harvard and Alabama and the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York, hav investigated into the genetic causes that might explain this relationship. Their findings appear this week in the Journal of the American Medical Association’ (JAMA)

Scientists focused their efforts on adiponectin, a protein that secretes fatty tissues and whose levels, interestingly, are further reduced in people who suffer from obesity. Bearing in mind that adiponectin is involved in glucose metabolism and can increase resistance to insulin (ie worsen the response of cells to this hormone), the authors suspected that this substance could directly influence cancer risk . For this reason they focused their analysis on the gene ADIPOQ responsible for the ‘manufacture’ of the protein adiponectin.

The study was carried out in the first place with 441 patients with colon cancer and 658 healthy volunteers, and their results were subsequently ratified in a second trial with 199 patients and 199 other participants without cancer.

The research found that people with a tiny mutation in the gene ADIPOQ (one of the so-called single nucleotide polymorphisms) had up to 30% less risk of developing colorectal cancer than the rest of participants. For those who had no mutation, ie, for those with abnormally low levels of adiponectin in blood, the researchers suggest that the methods of early diagnosis could be beneficial to detect any possible tumor-time color.

The authors suggest that their discovery could help reduce cancer risk through strategies to combat obesity, like exercise or a healthy diet. But in addition, added: “Our hope is that this can significantly improve early detection of this disease and open new opportunities to better understand what genetic factors and lifestyle affect his appearance.”

The work does not determine at this time what the action mechanism by which the adiponectin is involved in the growth of tumor cells, although this hormone had been linked previously with the onset of diabetes, insulin resistance or cardiovascular disease. The following steps explain this finding is confirmed in further studies and continue searching for mutations in ADIPOQ to see if they are likely to modify the risk of cancer of each individual.