Blood test could show colon cancer risk

Researchers are working to create the first broadly available test to determine an individual's chance of developing this disease.

By Victoria Stagg Elliott, AMNews staff. Oct. 24/31, 2005.

With the hope of devising a way to better target colorectal cancer screening, the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation has awarded a $2.25 million, five-year grant to a team of researchers to work to develop an easily accessible blood test to determine colon cancer risk. The goal is to create a test that can be used on a broad scale and will be able to differentiate between those who need aggressive screening and intervention against colon cancer and those who do not.

"Right now, we screen everyone, and we can identify less than 1% of those at higher risk with a blood test. We're trying to be able to stratify who is really at risk and better target the resources," said Marcia Cruz-Correa, MD, PhD, a member of the study team and an associate professor of medicine at the University of Puerto Rico.

The research is getting this push because of the increasing recognition that the impact of current colon cancer screening is somewhat limited.

Several medical societies, including the American Medical Association, and numerous public health agencies long have encouraged colon cancer screening as a means to reduce mortality from the disease. Colon cancer screening rates, however, are far from ideal. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, more than 40 million people older than 50 have not been screened in accordance with national guidelines.