Transcription is one of the mechanisms that occur in cells to read the information contained in the genes. A study led by Biomarkers and Susceptibility Unit Program for Prevention and Control of Cancer, ICO-IDIBELL has identified significant differences in the programs of transcriptional regulation of normal cells and cells from colon tumors.

In the study, which was published in the journal BMC Cancer, researchers compared the gene expression profiles of one hundred of tumor samples from colon with its hundred pairs of adjacent normal tissue and detected differences in transcriptional activity and the interaction between the genes themselves. It concludes with a message of global loss of transcriptional activity in colon tumor cells. On the other hand, for example, a few transcription factors greatly increase their activity in tumor cells over normal ones

The study opens the door to a better understanding of changes in programs that regulate transcription of colon tumor cells.

Lamb D, Solé X, Crous-Bou M, Sanz-Pamplona R, Paré-Brunet L, Guinó E, Olivares D, Berenguer A, Santos C, Salazar R, Biondo S, Moreno V. Large expats in overall transcriptional regulatory programs of Normal and tumor colon cells .. BMC Cancer. Sep 24 2014, 14: 708. doi: 10.1186 / 1471-2407-14-708