Epigenomics Septin9 Biomarker detects Colon Cancer equally in both sides of the Colon

17-Feb-2012 - Germany

Epigenomics AG announced the results from a study conducted in collaboration with Professor Dr. Béla Molnár and his team from the 2nd Department of Internal Medicine of Semmelweis University in Budapest, Hungary. In the study, the blood based detection of methylated Septin9 in colorectal cancer (CRC) cases was assessed in the left and right side of the colon.

In a blinded case control study of a total of 184 study participants, plasma from 92 CRC cases (56 left-, 36 right-sided cases) was analyzed and methylated Septin9 was detected in a total of 88 cancer cases, representing 96% sensitivity for overall CRC detection at a specificity of 85%. The control arm consisted of 92 samples of individuals with no evidence of disease as verified by colonoscopy. Sensitivity for detection of left- and right-sided cases was 96% and 94% respectively, thus showing no significant difference between cancer detection in either side of the colon.

In a subset of 39 subjects that received a fecal occult blood test (FOBT, Hemoccult II stool test) in addition to a Septin9 test, the sensitivities for FOBT for the detection of 12 left- sided cases was 83% and 50% for the 10 right-sided cases in this study. Overall, sensitivity for FOBT was 68% and specificity was 71%.

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