Marker signals esophageal cancer

A genetic abnormality in people with cancer of the esophagus might guide physicians in

diagnosing and treating such patients and could become an indicator of cancer recurrences,

report researchers at the University of Maryland School of Medicine in Baltimore.

The scientists found that in tumor tissue from 48 of 52 people with adenocarcinoma of

the esophagus, a gene that encodes a tumor-suppressing protein called APC had been shut

down.