Detection of colorectal cancer

Article Type: Food facts From: Nutrition & Food Science, Volume 40, Issue 6.

Signature Diagnostics AG announced positive results from its prospective,multi-centre clinical study validating detector C, its in-vitro diagnostic screening product. Detector C is a non-invasive, blood-based screening test for the early detection of colorectal cancer. The test uses Affymetrix technology to evaluate the expression of 202 genes that are active in white blood cells in response to tumour formation and growth.

Approximately 5.1 million individuals (3 per cent) have an undetected CRC. Only 396,000 CRC cases (7.8 per cent) are presently diagnosed annually (EU-5:220,000, USA: 176,000). Classical screening methods, including haemocult II(gFOBT) and colonoscopy, detect only five per cent of these 396,000 CRC patients. In 4.7 million individuals affected with CRC, the asymptomatic cancer remains undetected. In Germany, 73,000 patients are diagnosed with CRC every year.