Local experts find biomarkers to predict relapse risk in colorectal cancer
Dr Cai Guoxiang from Shanghai Cancer Center at surgery
Local scientists have detected new biomarkers which can forecast the relapse risk of patients with colorectal cancer after surgery. The check on the biomarkers only need blood tests, which are simple and cost-effectively, the Shanghai Cancer Center said on Thursday.
According to experts, ctDNA plays an important role in the formation, development and relapse of colorectal cancer. The research led by Dr Cai Guoxiang at the Shanghai Cancer Center is the first study led by Chinese experts on ctDNA ,and fulfilled the entire process from biomarker selection, perfection and verification.
The team detected six combinations of ctDNA biomarkers, and confirmed that tests on ctDNA in plasma have a good application potential on relapse risk forecast for patients with colorectal cancer surgery.
Surgery is the important treatment method for colorectal cancer and patients in middle and terminal stages should usually receive chemotherapy as an assisted treatment.
However, clinical practice found terminal patients can benefit from chemotherapy, while the treatment on middle-stage patients is controversial.
"So selecting patients with high risk of relapse and offering classified treatment is essential for post-surgery medical plan and monitoring," said Cai, whose team focuses on ctDNA methylation, one of the most frequent epigenetic alternations. Most other researches on ctDNA usually focus on its genetic mutation.
"Our research found that check on ctDNA methylation is more sensitive in forecasting relapse risk than carcinoembryonic antigen, or CEA, in current clinical practice and is 20 months earlier than the imaging check to detect relapse. There is a huge potential in clinical use," Cai said.
The research, which was published by world-leading journal JAMA Oncology, has caused international attention and received expert editorial from world-leading expert Ajay Goel.
