Scientists from the Institute of Cancer Research (ICR) have found a new method for predicting bowel cancer risk in inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) patients.
It is hoped that the test, which was found to be more than 90% accurate, will help inform treatment decisions for high-risk patients while giving peace of mind to those at a lower risk.
Approximately 500,000 people in the UK are affected by Crohn’s disease or ulcerative colitis, the two main forms of IBD.
The conditions irritate the lining of the bowel, which can cause abnormal pre-cancerous cells to form if left untreated and increase the risk of developing bowel cancer.
IBD patients are currently offered regular checks for pre-cancerous growths in the lining of the gut which, if present, represent an approximately 30% chance of bowel cancer developing over ten years.
The ICR researchers, funded by Cancer Research UK and the Barts Charity, found that patients whose pre-cancerous cells had lost or gained multiple copies of their DNA were far more likely to develop bowel cancer, and created an algorithm based on the exact pattern of the DNA altered in the pre-cancerous cells.
The study published in the journal Gut showed that this method predicted which IBD patients with pre-cancerous cells will go on to develop bowel cancer within five years with greater than 90% accuracy.
Trevor Graham, professor of genomics and evolution and director of the centre for evolution and cancer at the ICR, said: “Crohn’s [disease] and ulcerative colitis are common and we need better tools to identify the patients at highest risk of bowel cancer.
“Our test and algorithm give people with IBD, and the doctors who care for them, the best possible information so that they can make the right decision about how to manage their cancer risk.”
The team, which worked with doctors at St Mark’s Hospital, is now hoping to develop the test beyond analysing samples of growths taken from the gut to a less invasive method, such as taking a blood sample.
The results come just two weeks after NHS England announced that it had expanded its bowel cancer screening programme to everyone aged 50 to 74 years.