In a new study, researchers have made a major breakthrough in developing a new blood test for colon cancer diagnosis.
The new blood test can be a minimally-invasive procedure that reduces over-diagnosis.
Moreover, it can help detect colon cancer early and save patients’ lives.
The research was conducted by a group of University of Wisconsin-Madison scientists.
Currently, the gold standard for colon cancer screening is an optical colonoscopy.
In the procedure, patients complete a day-long prep to empty their bowels before undergoing an invasive procedure.
When a doctor finds growths in the colon during the procedure they usually remove those polyps and have them analyzed as either cancerous or benign. This test has low compliance rates.
Another screening test is computed tomographic colonography. This test requires a similar bowel prep but offers a non-invasive image of the colon.
But this method requires a follow-up optical colonoscopy and polyp removal if it reveals an area of concern.
Previous research has shown that the majority of small polyps detected by this method will never become cancerous and treating them is unnecessary.
In the current study, the team looked for proteins that are elevated in the blood of only those patients who have growing polyps or cancerous polyps.
They examined blood samples from 90 optical colonoscopy patients.
These patients were divided into groups of no, low- or high-risk pre-cancerous polyps.
They also examined 31 computed tomographic colonography patients who were monitored without polyp removal.
The researchers discovered four proteins that are linked to early colon cancer in the patients studied.
They suggest that findings will lead to a blood test for cancer and help increase screening rates while reducing over-treatment.
Now in Madison, other groups have already developed effective, non-invasive screening tests.
This blood test may be a complement to these others.
The senior author of the study is Bill Dove, professor of oncology and genetics with the McArdle Laboratory for Research and Carbone Cancer Center at UW-Madison.
The study is published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.
Copyright © 2019 Knowridge Science Report. All rights reserved.
