On 5 April, the Hospital HLA Jerez Puerta del Sur played host to the Clínica Digesur-Grupo Médico López Cano (GMLC) meeting, presented by Dr Antonio López Cano and Dr Antonio Amaya. Speakers at the event included Dr Antonio Martinez-Peinado, Technical Director at Analiza Córdoba and expert in genetics, who gave a talk titled “Colon and bowel cancer: from the gene to the molecular target”, which was followed by a debate moderated by Dr Antonio M. Ballesta, Corporate Medical Director at Analiza, and Dr Antonio Amaya, Medical Director of the Hospital HLA Jerez Puerta del Sur.

Colorectal cancer (CRC) is one of the most frequent neoplasms in Western countries. In Spain, it is the most diagnosed tumour and the second most common cause of cancer in men after prostate cancer, and in women after breast cancer. An estimated 40,000 new cases of CRC are diagnosed each year in Spain, with 39% of patients losing their lives to this type of cancer.

Prevention and early detection are the main tools to combat CRC, because nine out of ten cases can be cured if it is detected in time. Therefore, the main goal of screening programmes is the early detection and treatment of precursor lesions before the onset of symptoms, thereby preventing the development of the disease.

According to Dr Martínez Peinado, “what twenty years ago were research findings and tests that only applied to colon cancer and with very complex methods, within the reach of a few benchmark laboratories, have now become – thanks to the development of molecular biology – mandatory tests not just for the colon, but for other types of cancer, with the use of affordable technology for conventional clinical laboratories.  Using these tests to facilitate diagnosis helps establish the prognosis and allows for clinical monitoring of the disease. So-called molecular signatures or profiles are also being used to perform a molecular classification of tumours that will favour the application of increasingly personalised treatments”.