Paneth cells in intestinal cancer: Supporting act or main feature?

Project summary

Both chronic bowel inflammation and a Western diet are known risk factors for colon cancer. This project explores the role of certain intestinal cells (Paneth cells) in the development of colon cancer in patients with these risk factors.
This study will show whether we can do more about prevention and treatment of colon cancer in patients with chronic intestinal inflammation. For this it is important to know from which cells the colon cancer originates.

The identification of the cell(s) of origin of colon cancer is critical to the development of preventive and therapeutic strategies. Their detailed analysis and characterization is likely to reveal molecular or cellular features that could be exploited to prevent cancer onset or block its progression. Paneth cells are likely to play a central role in diet- and inflammation-associated sporadic bowel cancer and as such represent a source of targets for future prevention and treatment programs.