Helen Rodman, R.N., M.P.H.

Traditional colon cancer treatments - surgery, chemotherapy, and radiation - are expensive, unpleasant, and damage healthy tissue. How wonderful it would be to avoid the need for cancer treatment by preventing malignancy in the first place.

Chemoprevention refers to the use of drugs or other substances to prevent the development of cancer. Hundreds of possible chemopreventive compounds have been identified, including man-made drugs and natural substances found in food. Nutritional habits such as a high-fiber/low-fat diet and getting moderate regular exercise may decrease the risk of colon cancer. Clinical trials have shown that calcium and commonly used anti-inflammatory medicines such as aspirin and ibuprofen, may help block the formation of colon polyps, which are thought to lead to colon cancer.

Under the guidance of the National Cancer Institute's chemoprevention drug development program, M.D. Anderson Cancer Center is now conducting a colon cancer prevention trial. This trial is for people known to carry mutations in on of the genes associated with hereditary non-polyposis colon cancer (HNPCC). The study is evaluating a drug called celecoxib which is an anti-inflammatory drug similar to aspirin. Researchers will evaluate whether or not this medicine prevents the changes in colon tissue that may precede polyp formation.

This M.D. Anderson Cancer Center study is building on knowledge already gained by previous scientists searching for chemopreventive medicines. The insights revealed by this clinical trial will lead us even further toward a future in which cancer is stopped before it even begins.