Early-onset colorectal cancer is expected to be one of the leading causes of death for adults between the ages of 20 and 49 by 2030, unless cancer is caught at an earlier stage<\/p>\n
A simple, high-accuracy blood test may transform outcomes for patients with colorectal cancer (CRC), Irish scientists believe.<\/p>\n
Researchers from Trinity College Dublin, Dublin City University and University College Dublin have received funding of \u20ac670,000 to develop a new screening test for the cancer, which affects approximately 2,500 people here annually.<\/p>\n
Working alongside clinicians at St Vincent\u2019s University Hospital, the team hopes to transform cancer outcomes by moving screening away from invasive or unpleasant methods to the \u2018CASPDx CRC\u2019 blood test.<\/p>\n
The researchers are currently recruiting patients in all Bowel Screen Centres in the HSE Dublin and South East region as part of clinical validation studies for the test<\/p>\n
While the CASPDx CRC test is still at clinical validation and immunoassay development phases, the team aim to launch the test and spin-out as a company by the end of 2027.<\/p>\n
\u201cInflammation is a process essential for immunity, tissue maintenance and repair; however, it can also contribute to cancer growth, progression and metastasis,\u201d said Dr Emma Creagh, associate professor in biochemistry at Trinity College Dublin and Scientific Lead for CASPDx.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur research has identified specific inflammation markers that become increased during CRC development and progression. The blood test we are developing will identify possible CRC patients by detecting these inflammatory markers directly from their blood sample.\u201d<\/p>\n
Colorectal cancer is the second leading cause of cancer mortality globally, according to the World Health Organisation. Despite being highly treatable when caught early, over 60 per cent of cases are currently diagnosed at a late stage.<\/p>\n
Another problem comes from the current screening options, which rely on invasive colonoscopies or unpopular stool-based kits. These consequently suffer from low patient uptake, resulting in over one-third of eligible individuals skipping screening entirely. Notably, existing tests also lack accuracy and miss early cases.<\/p>\n
And while there are some novel tests with increased accuracy, these are cost-prohibitive for use in national screening programmes and many are only available in the US. High incidence also translates into high costs, with CRC estimated to have cost the EU \u20ac19 billion in 2020.<\/p>\n
\u201cWith nearly 120 million unscreened individuals across the US and EU, and incidence rates increasing, a transformative solution is required \u2013 and we believe our test is exactly that,\u201d explains Dr Kieran Clarke, CASPDx commercial lead.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn relative terms, CRC is very treatable if caught early \u2013 it\u2019s just that current screening tools are failing to reach many people. CASPDx is closing that gap. Built for accuracy, affordability, and global scale, our solution is designed to detect CRC earlier, and for more people than ever before.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe commercialisation fund from Enterprise Ireland now allows us to hire the team to complete development and clinical validation of the test. Together with our strategic partners, we are excited to bring this life-saving test to health systems worldwide.\u201d<\/p>\n
The rates of early-onset CRC (diagnosis in individuals under 50 years old) has almost doubled over the last 30 years, and by 2030 it is anticipated that early-onset CRC will be one of the leading causes of death for adults between the ages of 20 and 49, unless cancer is caught at an earlier stage.<\/p>\n
CRC in younger people tends to be uncovered at a more advanced stage primarily due to lower screening rates as most programmes start from 50 years onwards (58 in Ireland).<\/p>\n
Once diagnosed, early onset CRC tends to be characterised by more aggressive features making accessible, early-stage detection more critical than ever to catch the cancer at an earlier stage when it is treatable and outcomes are greatly improved.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe potential for a reliable blood-based screening test is a significant step forward,\u201d said Prof Glen Doherty<\/strong>, Consultant Gastroenterologist at St Vincent\u2019s University Hospital.<\/p>\n \u201cBeyond simply detecting bowel cancer at an earlier, more treatable stage, these tests could help us identify which patients truly require a colonoscopy following a positive stool test. By improving our diagnostic accuracy through a simple blood draw, we could reduce the number of unnecessary colonoscopies, ensuring that hospital resources are focused on the patients who need them most.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Early-onset colorectal cancer is expected to be one of the leading causes of death for adults between the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":406473,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[78],"tags":[110,183778,11621,19122,11620,18,135,19,17],"class_list":["post-406472","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-health","tag-cancer","tag-caspdx-crc","tag-colon","tag-colonoscopy","tag-colorectal-cancer","tag-eire","tag-health","tag-ie","tag-ireland"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ie\/116300387804573713","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/406472","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=406472"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/406472\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/406473"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=406472"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=406472"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=406472"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}