Overview

• Researchers at the University of Edinburgh and Cancer Research UK Scotland Centre found that bowel cancer cells can shed their colonic identity and transform into skin- or muscle-like cells to survive harsher conditions and disperse more aggressively.
• The study identified cellular plasticity as a central mechanism of metastasis and linked loss of the ATRX gene to increased tumour spread to the liver, lymph nodes and diaphragm.
• Bowel cancer remains the UK’s second leading cause of cancer death, claiming around 16,800 lives annually in Britain, with Scotland disproportionately affected.
• Early-onset bowel cancer rates in adults aged 25–49 are rising in 27 of 50 countries studied, with the sharpest increases among younger women in Scotland and England.
• Scientists are now focusing on blocking the newly discovered plasticity pathway to develop treatments that prevent cancer cells from evolving and halt further spread.