Clinical Biomarkers for Colorectal Cancer

A panel of biomarkers for colorectal cancer (CRC) is being developed by conducting an integrated analysis of protein profiles of blood samples from patients suffering from the disease, with related genetic variations or risk factors.

Oxford Genome Sciences Ltd. (OGeS, Abington, UK) has entered into collaboration with the department of clinical pharmacology at the University of Oxford (Oxford, UK) to develop the biomarkers. The collaboration is part of a consortium, which was formed in 2005 by Oxford University and General Electric (GE) Healthcare (St Giles, UK). The goals of the consortium are to study the pathology of CRC and create a comprehensive disease management program for improved staging of the disease.

Over the next two years OGeS will apply its proteomics expertise and its Oxford Genome Anatomy Project (OGAP) database to differentiating between early and late stage cancer patients, for treatment appraisal. In addition, they will search for protein biomarkers of recurring disease with a poor outcome, to determine whether a personalized approach using novel targeted agents will be more effective than standard chemotherapy treatment of CRC patients.

"Colorectal cancer is responsible for an estimated half a million deaths per year in the Western world alone, and the earlier it is detected the more likely we will be able to treat patients,” said Professor David Kerr, Rhodes Professor of Therapeutic Sciences and Clinical Pharmacology at the University of Oxford and a member of the OGeS Scientific Advisory Board. "The personalized approach to cancer therapy has already proved successful in treating certain forms of breast cancer and CRC will require similar approaches.”



Related Links:
Oxford Genome Sciences Ltd
University of Oxford
GE Healthcare