A new link has been discovered between molecular pathways and the development of bowel cancer, scientists from Cancer Research UK have found.
Two distinct pathways, c-Jun and TCF4 that were involved in communication between cells and proteins, were studied
Researchers found that when interactions between pathways were blocked, tumours were reduced and even shrunk.
That is because c-Jun and TCF4 need to interact in order to produce a cancer-promoting protein.
The onset of bowel cancer could be delayed considerably by blocking communications.
According to lead researcher Dr Axel Behrens of the London Research Institute, the discovery of this 'crossroads' in these two cellular pathways, which were previously thought to be completely separate, is very interesting.
"Our experiments have shown that these pathways actually interact with each other and controlling this interaction may give an insight into the development of bowel cancer," he commented on the findings, which were published in Nature.
He said follow-up studies were needed to discover if there are possible developments that could have clinical use.