image: Scott Waldman, M.D., Ph.D., Chair of the Department of Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics at Thomas Jefferson University, has been awarded a Commonwealth Universal Research Enhancement grant for almost $750,000 to help advance a molecular diagnostic test for colon cancer into commercialization. view more
Credit: TJU
PHILADELPHIA—Scott Waldman, M.D., Ph.D., Chair of the Department of Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics at Thomas Jefferson University, has been awarded a Commonwealth Universal Research Enhancement (CURE) grant for almost $750,000 to help advance a molecular diagnostic test for colon cancer into commercialization.
Such a test would better detect recurrence in a group of colon cancer patients whose metastases are hidden, and help reduce racial disparities, particularly in the African-American community, who are at higher risk of dying from metastatic disease.
The nonformula grant was awarded competitively from the Pennsylvania Department of Health. One of this year's priorities for the Department's Health Research Advisory Committee is Cancer Diagnostics or Therapeutics with Commercialization Potential.
About 25 percent of colon cancer patients who are deemed node-negative, or pN0, (meaning the cancer has not spread to the lymph nodes) after treatment end up recurring with metastatic disease. Known as occult tumors, these hidden metastases often escape detection, be it imaging modalities or histopathology.
Today, no such test exists to distinguish these colon cancer patients, and as a result, they are often treated the same.
To better stratify this group, Dr. Waldman and colleagues have developed a diagnostic test that uses the hormone receptor guanylyl cyclase C (GCC) as a biomarker.
Previous research shows that a quantitative, molecular analysis of lymph nodes in patients deemed colorectal cancer-free was found to be an effective predictor of recurrence. Expression of GCC in the nodes, they found, is associated with an increased risk.
"This approach can improve prognostic risk stratification and chemotherapeutic allocation for these colon cancer patients," said Dr. Waldman, a member of Jefferson's Kimmel Cancer Center. "With this CURE grant, we can now move a much-needed technology closer to commercialization, meaning closer to patients."
The test will ultimately determine who can benefit from adjuvant chemotherapy, which is designed to eradicate whatever occult disease is left after surgery and other treatments.
This test would benefit the African-American community, in particular. Beyond the general population risk, there is an established stage-specific difference in outcomes in pN0 African Americans, who are 40 percent more likely to die from the metastatic colon cancer than whites.
Stratifying these patients could ultimately reduce related racial disparities in mortality and survival.
The primary purpose of this nonformula grant is to support research activities that commercialize and bring to market new cancer diagnostics and therapeutics for which proof of concept has previously been demonstrated and has the capability to solve or diminish a specific problem related to the diagnosis or treatment of one or more malignant diseases.