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ICR researchers uncover new method for predicting bowel cancer risk in IBD patients
A test that more accurately predicts which IBD patients with pre-cancerous bowel changes will develop cancer could help target surveillance and treatment to those at higher risk and reduce unnecessary procedures for lower-risk people.
Adults with Crohn’s disease or ulcerative colitis, gastroenterologists and clinicians involved in IBD surveillance, and researchers working on cancer risk prediction and biomarkers.
What To Know
What to know Scientists at the Institute of Cancer Research report a new DNA-based method to predict which IBD patients with pre-cancerous bowel cells (dysplasia) are likely to develop bowel cancer.
The team created an algorithm that uses patterns of DNA copy-number gains and losses in abnormal tissue and, in the published study in Gut, it predicted progression to bowel cancer within five years with reported >90% accuracy. The research focused on analysing samples of pre-cancerous growths taken from the gut (biopsies).
The investigators are exploring whether the test could be adapted to a less invasive sample type, such as blood, but the current findings are based on tissue analysis.
This work is presented as a clinical-research advance that could improve how doctors stratify cancer risk in people with long-standing Crohn’s disease or ulcerative colitis and guide surveillance or treatment decisions. It does not describe a currently available commercial test or a change in clinical practice at this time.
For readers wanting details, the study is published in the journal Gut and was reported by the Institute of Cancer Research with funding acknowledgements to Cancer Research UK and Barts Charity.
The reported accuracy comes from a research study published in Gut using tissue samples of pre-cancerous growths. Further work is needed to validate the test in wider patient groups and to develop less invasive sampling (for example, blood). This news does not indicate an immediate change to clinical care or an available commercial test.
