Answer» What is Deleted in Colorectal Cancer mean?
Deleted in Colorectal Carcinoma, also known as DCC, is a protein which in humans is encoded by the DCC gene. DCC has long been implicated in colorectal cancer. While the official, full name of this gene is Deleted in Colorectal Carcinoma, it is almost universally called Deleted in Colorectal Cancer. The protein product of DCC is a single transmembrane receptor also known as DCC, and it has the same interchangeable name.
Since it was first discovered in a colorectal cancer study in 1990, DCC has been the focus of a significant amount of research. DCC held a controversial place as a tumour suppressor gene for many years, and is well known as an axon guidance receptor that responds to netrin-1.
More recently DCC has been characterized as a dependence receptor, and many hypotheses have been put forward that have revived interest in DCC's candidacy as a tumour suppressor gene, as it may be a ligand-dependent suppressor that is frequently epigenetically silenced.
