Improving early cancer diagnosis in IBD patients:  The ICAN Study

40tude is proud to be funding a novel study which aims to develop a non-invasive test to improve the early diagnosis of cancer in Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD) patients.

 Around 1 in 120 people in the UK have IBD, a chronic inflammatory condition that mainly affects the large bowel.  The risk of IBD patients going on to develop colon cancer is approximately double that of the unaffected population, and accounts for 10-15% of deaths in those with IBD.  This high lifetime risk of developing colon cancer is the main reason that IBD patients are enrolled in endoscopic surveillance which aim to detect and treat early signs of cancer. The programme at St. Mark’s Hospital was the world’s first and remains one of the largest IBD endoscopic surveillance programmes in the world.   However, the surveillance approach could be improved if there was a more sensitive way to predict which patients have the highest risk of developing cancer.

40tude is supporting a collaborative project between St. Mark’s and the Institute of Cancer Research to identify and then clinically test the molecular biomarkers that accurately determine cancer risk in IBD patients. 

We’re delighted that an initial study we provided funding for, a study of the genetic biomarkers in biopsy tissue, has progressed to a potentially fully functional clinical test following positive efficacy testing. Exciting progress is currently being made to incorporate this into daily clinical practice. 40tude has also provided seed-funding for a similar pilot study which aims to confirm that bio-markers exist in faecal and blood samples also.  Our funding is currently supporting the role of a dedicated clinical research fellow to progress this pioneering programme, which has been named the ICAN Study. 

The ICAN team have been looking at how differing methods of endoscopic resection (in which a polyp or dysplasia is removed) reduced future cancer risk.  There is exciting progress being made on the initiative to identify a genomic marker within the removed polyp or dysplasia to help predict the risk of an IBD patient developing colon cancer.  The research team have been comparing the chromosomes of patients with low grade dysplasia who have developed cancer with those who did not, in which there are some notable variations. 

“We have been looking at samples of polyps removed from patients with ulcerative colitis during regular endoscopy, and have now sent these for DNA sequencing,” explains Dr. Jennifer Fisher, ICAN Study Research Fellow.  “The bioinformatic analysis of the polyp and the surrounding tissue will help us to predict the likelihood of progression to cancer.  Being able to stratify this risk more accurately will help us to develop tailored pathways for those with IBD, for example identifying which patients would benefit most from endoscopic resection rather than surgery in the future.”

 The aim of this study is to create a more individualised approach for those with inflammatory bowel disease and their risk of developing colon cancer.  The team hope that the development of a non-invasive test for early cancer detection will allow endoscopy to be targeted to only those people who need it most and avoid the need for surgical interventions such as colectomy for those who are identified to be at lower risk.  And as for all 40tude-funded projects, the goal of this vital research programme is for their outcomes to be incorporated into national and international guidelines, informing the future treatment of IBD patients across the world.  

40tude is grateful to the generous support of the 8C Capital Trust in helping to fund this potentially transformative research programme. Read more here

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