A round of applause is deserved by the National cancer institute as it has granted an amount of 400,000$ to Western Michigan University for studying a cutting-edge treatment for colorectal cancer. This treatment will be using viruses to attack cancer cells and will do the entire job without even harming normal cells in the body.

The whole story line is: The scientists at the Institute for Research in Biomedicine have recently discovered that a set of genes are generated by the colorectal cancer cells, which are similar to those found in intestinal stem cells. Also, the scientists have proposed that the colorectal cancer patients undergo genetic tests of their intestinal epithelium in order to predict a higher risk of relapse.

Colon cancer is the second largest cause of death by cancer worldwide. Currently, the disease is treated by surgeries and chemotherapy but nearly 40% of the patients relapse within months or years when the cancer returns or metastasizes.

The study, done by ICREA researcher Eduard Batlle, offered some new possibilities for diagnosing and treating the disease. In the study, the activated genes in cells from a healthy intestine (both stem cells and specialized cells) were compared with the genes that are activated in tumor cells taken from patients.

In this regard, Batlle said, "This shows us that there are cells within the tumor that regenerate the disease, but we still know very little about the biological reasons why".