The incidence of colorectal cancer — a major cause of mortality in industrialized nations — is lowest in developing countries, where high levels of enterotoxigenic
Pitari et al. examined the in vitro DNA synthesis and proliferation of colon cancer cells in the presence of heat-stable enterotoxin (ST) produced by ETEC. They observed that ST suppressed proliferation by increasing intracellular cGMP — an effect mimicked by the cell permeant...