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Newly identified colon cancer biomarkers may lead to innovative blood test

Category: Colon

Chinese scientists have reportedly discovered two proteins present in the blood that may serve as potential biomarkers for predicting the spread of colon cancer. The researchers believe that the discovery may help them create a blood test capable of diagnosing life-threatening strains of the disease at an earlier stage.

Currently, determining which colon cancers will spread is extremely difficult because there are no known chemical markers in the blood that are associated with metastasis.

In the study, published in the Journal of Proteome Research, the scientists compared proteins produced by the original colon cancer cells to the metastatic colon cells taken from a singular person suffering from the disease.

They found that two proteins occurred at significantly higher levels in the metastatic cells than in the primary cancer cells, according to WebMD.

"The identified candidate proteins," wrote researchers Hua Xue of Zhejiang University in Hangzhou, China, and colleagues, "will facilitate our understanding toward the molecular mechanism of [colorectal cancer] metastasis as well as providing useful biomarkers for cancer prevention, detection and intervention in the future."