Genomic copy number predicts esophageal cancer years before transformation
Publication: Nature Medicine
Sarah Killcoyne, Eleanor Gregson, David C. Wedge, Dan J. Woodcock, Matthew D. Eldridge, Rachel de la Rue, Ahmad Miremadi, Sujath Abbas, Adrienn Blasko, Cassandra Kosmidou, Wladyslaw Januszewicz, Aikaterini Varanou Jenkins, Moritz Gerstung & Rebecca C. Fitzgerald
07 September 2020
Summary
Barrett’s oesophagus is a risk factor for oesophageal cancer. The oesophagus or known as the gullet or food pipe, connects from your mouth to the stomach. Cells within the oesophagus can change and become abnormal. Biopsies taken via an endoscopy can help detect any abnormal cells.
Oesophageal cancer can be hard to detect, Cambridge researchers investigated whether patients could be identified earlier. Using DNA tissue biopsies from patients diagnosed with Barrett’s oesophagus could show which patients are more likely to develop the disease.
Using whole genome sequencing, researchers analysed samples from 88 patients and compared their DNA against control samples collected during clinical surveillance for Barrett’s oesophagus. Researchers looked at the differences in the DNA between patients who were eventually diagnosed with cancer to those who were not. They found several changes and used this model to predict whether a patient was at a high or low risk of cancer.
They found the model could correctly predict oesophageal cancer eight years before diagnosis for half of all patients who went on to develop the disease. This increased to more than three-quarters of patients one to two years before a diagnosis. Read the full story.
