Clinical validation of a minimally invasive serum test based on tumour-associated antigens for the diagnosis of colorectal cancer, allowing for prioritization of patients in need of colonoscopy
This project aims to clinically validate a reverse ELISA-based assay developed in our laboratory which indicates the presence of auto-antibodies to tumour-associated antigens in the serum of CRC patients. The first objective validates and tests the reverse ELISAs developed in our preliminary work in a larger clinical cohort of 200 CRC patients and 200 non-CRC patients warranting colonoscopy. The second objective address the specificity of these auto-antigens for detection of CRC, by analysing bio-banked serum samples from patients with breast cancer and lymphoma, and by analysing the serum samples of patients at high risk for the development of CRC (ulcerative colitis). The final objective experimentally validate the presence of tumour-associated antigens in CRC tumour tissue, and will investigate whether these antigens also have additional value as prognostic biomarkers in the clinicopathological setting.
This project was funded by HRB.