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Molecular Cancer
Published in: Molecular Cancer 1/2011

Open Access 01-12-2011 | Research

Identification of an epigenetic biomarker panel with high sensitivity and specificity for colorectal cancer and adenomas

Authors: Guro E Lind, Stine A Danielsen, Terje Ahlquist, Marianne A Merok, Kim Andresen, Rolf I Skotheim, Merete Hektoen, Torleiv O Rognum, Gunn I Meling, Geir Hoff, Michael Bretthauer, Espen Thiis-Evensen, Arild Nesbakken, Ragnhild A Lothe

Published in: Molecular Cancer | Issue 1/2011

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Abstract

Background

The presence of cancer-specific DNA methylation patterns in epithelial colorectal cells in human feces provides the prospect of a simple, non-invasive screening test for colorectal cancer and its precursor, the adenoma. This study investigates a panel of epigenetic markers for the detection of colorectal cancer and adenomas.

Methods

Candidate biomarkers were subjected to quantitative methylation analysis in test sets of tissue samples from colorectal cancers, adenomas, and normal colonic mucosa. All findings were verified in independent clinical validation series. A total of 523 human samples were included in the study. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis was used to evaluate the performance of the biomarker panel.

Results

Promoter hypermethylation of the genes CNRIP1, FBN1, INA, MAL, SNCA, and SPG20 was frequent in both colorectal cancers (65-94%) and adenomas (35-91%), whereas normal mucosa samples were rarely (0-5%) methylated. The combined sensitivity of at least two positives among the six markers was 94% for colorectal cancers and 93% for adenoma samples, with a specificity of 98%. The resulting areas under the ROC curve were 0.984 for cancers and 0.968 for adenomas versus normal mucosa.

Conclusions

The novel epigenetic marker panel shows very high sensitivity and specificity for both colorectal cancers and adenomas. Our findings suggest this biomarker panel to be highly suitable for early tumor detection.
Appendix
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Metadata
Title
Identification of an epigenetic biomarker panel with high sensitivity and specificity for colorectal cancer and adenomas
Authors
Guro E Lind
Stine A Danielsen
Terje Ahlquist
Marianne A Merok
Kim Andresen
Rolf I Skotheim
Merete Hektoen
Torleiv O Rognum
Gunn I Meling
Geir Hoff
Michael Bretthauer
Espen Thiis-Evensen
Arild Nesbakken
Ragnhild A Lothe
Publication date
01-12-2011
Publisher
BioMed Central
Published in
Molecular Cancer / Issue 1/2011
Electronic ISSN: 1476-4598
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1186/1476-4598-10-85

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