One of the biggest challenges for the cancer research community is the disease's ability to spread to new parts of the body. This is metastasis, a complex process that causes many cancer deaths, making it a key focus for researchers worldwide, especially those dealing with the most common tumors. This is the case, for example, with colorectal cancer, the third most frequently diagnosed cancer. Now, a team from the Hospital del Mar Research Institute has identified a mechanism that may explain how this cancer metastasizes to the liver. Specifically, they found that the absence of a particular protein allows tumor cells to cluster, migrate, and reproduce the tumor in the liver.

The Catalan Ombudsman has taken into consideration the complaint of a 72-year-old man regarding the age limit for colon cancer screening programs and is asking the Catalan Health Department, on which the complaint is based, to stop performing diagnostic tests after the age of 69, precisely the age at which these types of tumors are most common. This case of ageism, or age discrimination, was reported by... Joaquim Vilargunter from Barcelona in the pages of ARA After the regional health department headed by Olga Pané and a court denied him entry into the public prevention program, the director of social rights for the Ombudsman, Jordi Sánchez Pinyol, has opened an investigation following the news published on November 17th to determine if the Health Department has scientific reports to justify the age restriction to 69, and also inquires whether any such reports exist within that age range. In his complaint, Joaquim Vilargunter provided reports from other health services, such as those in the Basque Country and others in the European Union, which have decided to extend the screening age range to 74, taking into account the high incidence of cancer and the fact that stool analysis is cheaper than medical treatment. In the letter that Sánchez Pinyol has sent to the Catalan Health Department (Salut), he also asks about the exact cost of each test and "the impact that extending the age range to 74 would have on the healthcare budget," as well as what information is available on the incidence of this type of cancer in people over 69. The Ombudsman explains that he has opted to act ex officio without mentioning Vilargunter's personal case, knowing that he is unlikely to receive a positive response before turning 74 (he is two years away), while it could be a solution for other people who are about to reach the maximum age for the prevention program. According to Sánchez Pinyol, colorectal cancer screenings have many parallels with breast cancer, which also has an age limit and leaves women without universal and free periodic screening.

The most aggressive colorectal tumors have learned to evade the immune system and go undetected by its defenses. Although immunotherapies have revolutionized the fight against many types of cancer, colorectal cancer is still one of the leading causes of death worldwide. In most metastatic cases, patients do not respond to these drugs because their immune system does not recognize the malignant cells as a threat. But there is hopeful news. A study led by the Institute for Research in Biomedicine (IRB Barcelona) and the National Center for Genomic Analysis (CNAG) has discovered how these tumors manage to block the immune system and, therefore, limit the effectiveness of immunotherapy, the treatment that reactivates the body's defense cells to attack. The key: the hormone TGF-β. The researchers have found that, through a hormone known as TGF-β, colorectal tumors generate a double barrier that protects them from immune attack. "The issue is that the tumor microenvironment of more metastatic colon cancers is different from that of more benign ones and is characterized by the presence of TGF-β, an immunosuppressive hormone," Dr. Eduard Batlle, ICREA researcher and head of the colorectal cancer laboratory at IRB Barcelona, explained to ARA. "Malignant cells use this hormone to evade detection by T lymphocytes, the cells on which our immune system is based," he clarified.

In two court rulings, Joaquim Vilargunter obtained a response to the ageism complaint he had filed against the Catalan Health Service (CatSalut). This Barcelona lawyer took the colon cancer screening program to court because it excludes people over 69 years of age. He felt discriminated against because of his age and requested that the public health system extend the early detection test for the tumor, which has a higher incidence in men and women, to age 74, according to statistics from the Department of Health. "I have the right, and I justified it by providing European health guidelines that recommend expanding the target age group," he explained in a conversation at his home. Indeed, in the Basque Country, the target population for hescreening is between 50 and 74 years old, the same age range as in other European Union countries. "I do it because after 69, illnesses and the likelihood of suffering from cancer don't disappear; on the contrary," she argues.

A simple blood test can predict the risk of colon and rectal cancer recurrence, even before surgery to remove the tumor. Those with a high concentration of LNA, a molecule present in our cells, are 4.7 times more likely to develop cancer again than people with lower levels.

Childhood exposure to a toxic molecule called colibactin could be a new marker for early colorectal cancer.Escherichia coli, Present primarily in the colon and rectum, these bacteria have the ability to alter cell DNA. According to these researchers, the bacteria may be behind the "colorectal cancer epidemic" in people under fifty.

Catalans between the ages of 50 and 69 always receive a letter at home or an SMS encouraging them to participate in colorectal cancer screening. The goal of this strategy is to detect the disease early. Although it has been proven that patient survival increases when treatment for this cancer begins in its earliest stages, less than half of those called in Catalonia participate in this program. Specifically, they are offered the option of undergoing a fecal occult blood test, a technique that is just as effective and much less invasive than colonoscopy in identifying cancer and reducing mortality. This is the conclusion of a study conducted by researchers from the Hospital Clínic de Barcelona-Idibaps and the University Hospital of the Canary Islands, published in the journal The Lancet this Friday.