COLOVOC · Reliable and specific urinary biomarkers for colorectal cancer
Horizon 2020 — Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions
- Duration
- 2019-07-01 → 2023-04-29
- EU contribution
- €257,191
- Participants
- 2
- Scheme
- MSCA-IF
Lines connect the coordinator with its partners.
Results in brief
Reliable and specific urinary biomarkers for colorectal cancer
When you pee, you can easily know when you eat something specific, like asparagus. It was also by smelling urine that antic physicians could determine diabetes disease. We know urine can contain compounds specifics of food and disease. But it is complicated to determine which ones are specific to a particular disease. Therefore, we use advanced analytical techniques to analyze the urine and determine which compounds, the metabolites, are biomarkers of a disease. In the COLOVOC project, we analyze both the smell (volatiles) and the ‘flavor’ (liquid) of urine with mass spectrometry techniques. We have determined which metabolites are specific of colorectal cancer (CRC), the second most frequent neoplasia, after breast cancer in women and lung cancer in men. It is the most malignant digestive neoplasia in the western world, with a higher incidence than all other tumours combined. It is estimated that in a standard population, compliance with CRC screening is only ~30-50%. The research performed within the COLOVOC project has shown that 2 urine biomarkers can predict the recurrence and metastasis of CRC with an accuracy of 81% (82% sensitivity, 80% specificity), and it outperforms the current blood carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) test (47% sensitivity, 80% specificity). Our next steps are the validation of those two biomarkers and the development of a portable device for the clinics. Our long-term aim is to improve the detection of CRC and to reduce the burden on the health systems widely affected by the pandemic.
Data: CORDIS, © European Union
Project objective
Colorectal cancer (CRC) is the most common neoplastic pathology in the developed world. It is the second in frequency in men after prostate cancer and the second in women after breast cancer. Survival at five years, if all stages are taken into account, is approximately 50%. That represents a mortality of 20 cases per 100,000 inhabitants per year. The five-year survival of early stages, a situation almost equivalent to cure, is approximately 90%, whereas in advanced or metastatic stages it is less than 10%. Therefore, early diagnosis plays a central role in the improvement of survival rates. The main goal of this project is to find new ways to detect the cancer in the very early stages. To do so, the sample collection must be as simple, economic and convenient as possible. Only in this manner, regular screening approaching 100% of adult population will take place. The approach we propose is the identification and validation of new biomarkers in urine that can be used to diagnose colorectal cancer (CRC) at a very early stage. The central hypothesis is that CRC associated metabolites in the urine of patients can be segregated from patients with polyps (some of them precursors of CRC) and control subjects, and that their levels are correlated with clinical diagnostics of a CRC stage. Urine is an easy collectible biofluid for its non-invasiveness, and it can provide early detection of cancers. New sample measurement protocols and techniques are enhancing both selectivity and sensitivity by orders of magnitude, such as SPME and Twisters or GC/LC-MS systems (GCxGX/LC-QTOF-MS). The more sensitivity and selectivity, the more confindent diagnosis could be made at earlier stages of the cancerous process leading to a better survivability rate.Moreover, our proposal includes a multi-cohort, multi-laboratory validation of the findings, therefore ensuring that any discovery can readily be applied to any population and instrumentation around de world.
Original text from CORDIS.
Participants
- FUNDACIO INSTITUT D'INVESTIGACIO SANITARIA PERE VIRGILI (IISPV) · TarragonaCoordinatorSpain
- THE REGENTS OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA · OaklandUnited States
Links
Data: CORDIS, © European Union