Rare mutations in bowel cancer may identify patients with a better prognosis

A study focused on colorectal cancers and examined the presence of mutations in a gene that is essential for the accurate copying of DNA when cells divide, known as DNA polymerase epsilon (POLE). As a consequence of the defects in copying their DNA, these tumors accumulate a much higher number of additional mutations than other bowel cancers — a characteristic that may explain an apparently enhanced immune response against them.