It is likely to be a number of years before a clinical test for these gene variants is available. The APC variants 11307K and E1317Q are associated with colorectal tumours, but not always with a family history. 1 September 1998. It is the commonest non-smoking related cancer affecting both sexes. There are 31,300 new cases and 17,900 deaths in the UK every year.
Bowel cancer is curable, especially when detected at an early stage.
It is also preventable by the removal of pre-cancerous polyps. The research was carried out by researchers from the Imperial Cancer Research Fund's Colorectal Cancer Unit, Cancer and Immunogenetics Laboratory, and Molecular and Population Genetics Laboratory. Also on the team were doctors from the Kennedy-Galton Centre for Medical Genetics and the Wolfson Unit for Endoscopy at St Mark's Hospital, and the Dept of Clinical Genetics at Guy's Hospital. The Imperial Cancer Research Fund is dedicated to the understanding, prevention, treatment and cure of all forms of cancer. Its scientists and doctors are at the forefront of the worldwide effort to defeat the disease.