A major discovery from researchers in Scotland is shedding new light on how bowel cancer spreads — and the results could reshape future cancer treatments.
Scientists from the Cancer Research UK Scotland Centre and the University of Edinburgh have found that bowel cancer cells can morph into entirely different cell types, like skin or muscle cells. This shapeshifting ability, called cellular plasticity, makes the cancer stronger and more able to invade other organs.
The study, recently published in Nature, focused on how intestinal tumor cells adopt traits from more resilient cell types, such as keratinocytes (skin) or muscle cells. This transformation helps them resist treatment and spread — especially to the liver, diaphragm, and lymph nodes.
A key part of this process is linked to a gene called Atrx. When Atrx is missing, cancer cells become even more likely to spread. The findings were based on both human tissue samples and mouse models.
Dr. Luke Boulter, one of the lead researchers, emphasized that this discovery helps explain why bowel cancer can be so aggressive — especially among younger adults, a group seeing a troubling rise in diagnoses across Scotland and England, particularly in women.
Funded by the Medical Research Council and the European Research Council, this research is part of the CRC-STARS programme, a major initiative uniting over 40 experts in bowel cancer.
Understanding how cancer cells change and adapt could pave the way for smarter, more targeted therapies — a vital step as bowel cancer continues to rise globally.