Drug Treatment Prevents Polyps In High-Risk Cancer Patients

A randomized clinical trail led by Huntsman Cancer Institute investigators finds that a combinatorial chemotherapy reduces precancerous polyps by 75 percent in patients at high-risk for cancer. This advance represents the first prevention therapy against the leading cause of death, cancer of the small intestine, for patients with a genetic condition that leads to a 100 percent lifetime risk for developing cancer. Co-author of the study published in JAMA, and Utah Genome Project investigator Deb Neklason, Ph.D., explains how an investigation of families represented in the Utah Population Database identified the genetic cause of the disorder, making this work possible. She also describes how discovery of the new therapy could inform prevention strategies against other types of cancers, including sporadic colon cancer.