Huntsman Cancer Institute study delves into reasons why preventive drug is effective

A potent preventive treatment for people at enormous risk of colorectal cancer works not only by preventing new precancerous polyps from growing, but by causing existing ones to recede, according to findings published this week by Huntsman Cancer Institute researchers.

The findings are the latest in the institute’s line of research into how to prevent colorectal cancer among the 1-in-10,000 people who inherit a condition called familial adenomatous polyposis (FAP).

“This is one little baby step in the kind of long-term goal of trying to prevent this cancer,” said Deborah Neklason, a professor of internal medicine at the University of Utah and investigator at Huntsman Cancer Institute who led the study.