Circulating tumour cell blood test detects early-stage colorectal cancer

CellMax Life recently revealed results from a new study showing that circulating tumour cell (CTC) blood test, based on its proprietary CMxTM platform, can detect colorectal cancer at an early stage – and in many cases, pre-cancerous lesions – with accuracy ranging from 84 to 88%.

Colorectal cancer is one of the most preventable cancers when detected early. Traditional methods like colonoscopies and stool-based tests are inconvenient. Thus, compliance with colorectal cancer screening remains low, leading to most colorectal cancers being detected in late stages when survival rates are poor.

CTCs are cancer cells that detach from a primary tumour and circulate through the bloodstream and are a fundamental mechanism of metastasis. CTCs have long been known to be valuable in cancer detection, but most technologies using CTCs are only able to detect late-stage cancer. The CellMax CTC blood test “liquid biopsy” detects these CTCs in the blood at the earliest stages. This is one of the first clinical studies to show that CTCs can be useful for detecting early, more treatable stages of cancer.

The researchers enrolled 620 people over the age of 20 who were either visiting the hospital for routine colonoscopies or had confirmed colorectal cancer. After a colonoscopy and biopsy, 438 people were found to have either adenomatous polyps (pre-cancerous growths) or early to late-stage colorectal cancer. The remaining study participants had no signs of pre-cancerous growths or colorectal cancer and were the comparison group.

Two millilitres (about half a teaspoon) of peripheral whole blood were tested from each subject for CTC analysis through a routine blood draw. The blood samples were then processed through the CMx platform. The results of these assays were then compared in a blinded analysis with the colonoscopy results.

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The study results showed that the test’s sensitivity ranged from 77 % for detection of CTCs in pre-cancerous lesions to 87 % for stage I-IV cancers. Additionally, the accuracy of this test was superior to that of faecal occult blood testing (FOBT), a guideline-recommended stool test for colorectal cancer screening.