People with a family history of colon cancer may now breathe relieved, as scientific research comes to underline the fact that the same genes that increase risk of developing colon cancer may also provide a defense against the disease. Therefore, these people may live longer once treated.

Dr. Jennifer A. Chan, an instructor in medicine at Harvard Medical School and Dana-Faber’s Center for Gastrointestinal Oncology, Boston and colleagues analyzed data from 1,087 patients being treated for Stage III colon cancer. Approximately 17.9 percent (195) of patients reported having a first-degree relative with colorectal cancer.

The study surprisingly found that a family history of colorectal cancer was associated with a significant reduction in the risk of cancer recurrence or death. To be more specific, during an average of 5 1/2 years of follow up, 29 percent of those with a family history of the disease died or had a recurrence of cancer, compared to 38 percent of those without a family history.

“This news may be reassuring to people with a family history, but our hope is that we can discover what underlies this effect of family history in biological terms,” Dr. Chan said, as quoted by the New York Times.

The reason for these results is not clear, but the researchers suspected that people with a family history of colon cancer might have adopted healthier lifestyles or might have taken part in additional screening in order to prevent developing the disease. However, when they looked at important lifestyle factors like diet, exercise and smoking of those involved in the study they found no link between these factors and improved survival rates. Neither there was a link between screening and better survival rates.

Therefore, “something biologic” may improve survival rates in those suffering from colon cancer with a family history but what exactly is remains a mystery for the moment.

Once this mystery unraveled, researchers would be able to develop a treatment that targets that mechanism and people may have a better outcome, Dr. Chan said. “But a lot of testing needs to be done before we’re there,” she added.

In an accompanying editorial, Dr. Boris Pasche of Northwestern University’s Feinberg School of Medicine, Chicago suggests, “family history of colorectal cancer will lead to the identification of novel genetic features predictive of response to chemotherapy. Familial colorectal cancer may therefore confirm its role as a genetics treasure trove for medical discovery.”

The findings of the study called Association Of Family History With Cancer Recurrence and Survival Among Patients with Stage III Colon Cancer, were published in the June 4 edition of the Journal of the American Medical Association. The study was funded by grants from the national Cancer Institute and the Pharmacia & Upjohn Company, now Pfizer Oncology.

Colon cancer is the second most common cause of cancer-related deaths in the U.S., with more than 56,000 people losing the battle each year. The American Cancer Society estimates almost 150,000 new cases of colorectal cancer for 2008 in the U.S. The disease affects both men and women equally. Symptoms include changes and bleeding during bowel movements, abdominal pain, severe weight loss, and fatigue. Health experts believe that overweight men and women have an increased chance of developing colon cancer.

One way to win in the battle with colon cancer is having a colonoscopy after the age of 50. Another way to fight against colon cancer is to adopt a new approach to meal planning that focuses more on fruit and vegetable dishes and less on red meat. And of course exercising on daily basis helps preventing colon cancer and not only.