New test may predict which IBD patients have higher colorectal cancer risk
- People with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) are at an increased risk of developing colorectal cancer.
- People with IBD often get screened for colorectal cancer every one to three years via colonoscopies.
- Past research shows that it can be challenging to detect pre-cancerous cells in people with IBD.
- Researchers from The Institute of Cancer Research in London have developed a new test that they report can predict bowel cancer risk in people with IBD with 90% accuracy.
Previous research shows that people with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) — including ulcerative colitis and Crohn’s disease — are at an increased risk of developing colorectal cancer compared to people who do not have IBD.
A new colorectal cancer test
According to Trevor Graham, PhD, professor of genomics and evolution and director of the Centre for Evolution and Cancer at The Institute of Cancer Research in London and senior author of the study, although people with IBD have an increased risk of developing bowel cancer, there is no good way to predict that risk at the moment.
“For people who are thought to be imminently at risk of developing cancer, the only effective treatment is surgery to remove some or all of the large bowelTrusted Source,” Graham explained to Medical News Today. “This surgery can be lifesaving. But because we cannot, currently, be sure if someone really does need the surgery, people are having unnecessary surgery which has life changing consequences.”
“On the other hand, for people whose risk of bowel cancer we think is low and for whom we don’t operate, these people continue to have anxiety about the uncertainty of their cancer risk,” he added.
During the study, researchers found that people with IBD who had pre-cancerous cells that lost or gained multiple copies of DNA had an increased risk of developing bowel cancer.
From there, the scientists created an algorithm to calculate future colorectal cancer risk by using the exact pattern of the changed DNA in the pre-cancerous cells.
“In the UK, people with IBD have regular colonoscopies — a camera pushed up their bottom — to look for early signs of cancer,” Graham explained. “If something unusual is spotted, a biopsy — small tissue sample — is collected.”
“Our test is a genetic test that we perform on the biopsy. We compared the genetic signals from people who did go on to develop cancer to those who did not, and we have created a test to predict someone’s risk based on the genetic signals in their biopsy,” he said.
