The researchers at the Kimmel Cancer Center at Jefferson University -- led by clinical pharmacologist Dr. Scott Waldman -- have demonstrated guanylyl cyclase C, or GCC -- a protein receptor on the surface of intestinal epithelial cells for two hormones, guanylin and uroguanylin -- can suppress tumor formation. Those hormones regulate the growth of intestinal epithelial cells.

Using two separate mouse models that mimic the development of colon cancer in people, the team showed GCC signaling blocks such tumors from forming.

According to Waldman, the group found GCC stops tumors from forming through two different mechanisms. In one case, it controls cell growth, while in the other, it maintains “regulation of genomic integrity.”

The finding “converts colon cancer from a genetic disease, which is the way we’ve all thought about it, to a disease of hormone insufficiency,” Waldman said. “It’s a completely different way of thinking about the disease”

The study is reported in the journal Gastroenterology.