Scientists discover how colon cancer cells change identity to spread

According to ScienceDaily, scientists may have uncovered how colorectal cancer turns deadly. When a gene-regulating factor called GATA6 drops off, cancer cells can shed their normal identity and revert to a fetal-like, highly adaptable state — one capable of slipping into the bloodstream and seeding new tumors in the liver. The striking part, researchers say, is that this dangerous shift seems driven less by fresh genetic mutations and more by changes in how existing genes are switched on and off.

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