Clifton Community Partnership

Other article:
A New Test for Colon Cancer Risk
May 30, 2008
Source: Community Partnership Update/May 2008

Biomarker: A specific physical trait used to measure or indicate the effects or progress of a disease or condition.

Robin Bostick, a professor in the Rollins School of Public Health and a Georgia Cancer Coalition scholar, wants to do for colon and rectal cancer what earlier scientists did for heart disease. He is working to develop a simple blood test to detect biomarkers of risk that can be treated before disease occurs. Bostick has already identified biomarkers that predict colon cancer in apparently healthy people.

Bostick believes that altering the biomarkers of risk alters the risk itself. He is studying more than 1,300 people to see if calcium and vitamin D will alter the biomarkers and prevent the recurrence of colon polyps, a precursor to colon cancer. His findings could dramatically change the screening for and prevention of colon and other cancers.

Colon cancer is second only to lung cancer as the leading cause of cancer death in the United States for both men and women. Deaths from colon cancer have experienced only a modest decline, much of that due to earlier diagnosis and removal of precancerous polyps.

However, no clear biomarkers of risk for colon cancer had been found – not until Bostick discovered a panel of biologic changes in the mucosal tissue of people who later developed colon cancer. It differed significantly from those who remained cancer-free.

The researcher is ready to take the next step toward development of an effective biomarker screening test. That step involves a prospective study of people who have never had a polyp, much less any sign of colon cancer, to determine if biomarkers can predict who will develop colon problems. As a part of the process, Bostick wants to develop a simple and easy test, such as identification of biomarkers in blood, urine or mucosal tissue.

Nanotechnology may help him to make such tests fast and cheap. Working with technology available at Emory and Georgia Tech, he is creating software that automatically scans slides to quickly and accurately quantify the presence and quantity of biomarkers in mucosal tissue. What used to take a researcher six hours can now be done by a machine in 15 minutes.

While the finger prick screening test that Bostick envisions would not do away with colonoscopies, a cheaper, easier biomarker test would more likely be accepted and used by more people. The biomarker screening will provide better information on who needs a colonoscopy when and how often, and will provide additional motivation for those who most need a colonoscopy to get one, says Bostick.

So get ready to hold out your finger.

A longer version of this article first appeared in Emory Health Sciences, Winter 2007/08, available at whsc.emory.edu/_pubs/hsc/winter08. Used here by permission.