The challenge of early diagnosis of colorectal cancer

Early detection of colorectal cancer (CRC)

The objective of the project is the development and commercialization of a blood-based diagnostic test for the early detection of CRC. The outlined test will detect several antibodies generated by the immune system from patients against the tumor. These auto-antibodies appear at detectable levels in patient’s blood before symptoms and allow early diagnosis. CRC is the second most frequent and most deadly neoplasia worldwide. Survival rate is highly related to cancer stage at diagnosis. Only 30-40% of colon cancer cases are diagnosed in early stages. More than 9 in 10 colon cancer patients will survive the disease for more than 5 years if diagnosed at the earliest stage. The simplicity of COLODETECT will allow the screening of large population at risk. COLODETECT avoids the obvious limitations provided by the invasive detection techniques extensively used, as the colonoscopy, and offers additional advantages compared to traditional CRC diagnostic methods, such the simplicity in applications, detection, accuracy and a reduced cost.