Colon Cancer Screening Based on Stool DNA

A non-invasive screening method for colon cancer using stool DNA demonstrated 88% sensitivity in a prospective, multi-center study.

The results of the study were presented at the annual Digestive Disease Week (DDW) conference in May 2006 in Los Angeles (CA, USA) , an international meeting of gastroenterology professionals. The blinded study was designed to test the efficacy of technologic advances to enhance colorectal-cancer detection in stool samples.

Using a simplified panel of genetic markers, a buffer for DNA stabilization, and an enhanced DNA capture technology, Exact Sciences' (Marlborough, MA., USA) second generation stool DNA technology demonstrated 88% sensitivity for colorectal cancer in this blinded study. The study also confirmed that the first generation stool DNA technology demonstrated a sensitivity of 73% with use of the DNA stabilization buffer.

Don Hardison, Exact Sciences' president and CEO said, "Every day 150 people in the United States die from colorectal cancer, despite the availability of conventional screening tests like colonoscopy and fecal occult-blood testing. In our view, providing patients with additional clinically-supported, patient-friendly options like stool-DNA can only help in the important effort to reduce the unnecessary mortality associated with colorectal cancer.”

Colorectal cancer, which is the most deadly cancer among non-smokers, is generally curable if detected early. Despite the availability of colorectal cancer screening and diagnostic tests for more than 20 years, the rate of early detection of colorectal cancer remains low, and deaths from colorectal cancer remain high. Exact Sciences uses applied genomics to develop effective, patient-friendly screening technologies for use in the detection of cancer. The company believes that its genomics-based technologies will help enable detection of colorectal cancer.



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