Circulating prostaglandins as biomarkers for colorectal cancer?

Williams, Ann C.; Greenhough, Alexander; Paraskeva, Chris; Williams, Ann C

Abstract

Despite increases in our understanding of intestinal tumour biology, colorectal cancer remains a leading cause of cancer-related death worldwide. Most colorectal cancers develop from benign adenomas, presenting an opportunity for early detection and intervention prior to the onset of malignancy. For patients with early-stage tumours, five year survival rates are high. However, as early-stage tumours are typically asymptomatic, strategies to identify at risk individuals are critical to enable early detection. Therefore, a key challenge is improving (the currently suboptimal) patient uptake to screening programmes, as well as the development of good prognostic and predictive biomarkers for cancer risk and response to treatment. In this context and because of the well-established role of prostaglandins in colorectal tumorigenesis there are an increasing number of studies evaluating the utility of circulating prostaglandins in association with cancer risk and disease progression. In this issue of EBioMedicine, Li et al. (2015) provide evidence suggesting that the measurement of circulating prostaglandins in the blood may have potential utility in identifying patients at risk of developing, or with, colorectal cancer. This is an attractive premise, as a convenient blood-based testmay increase uptake amongst eligible individuals that do not presently participate in current screening procedures (such as the faecal occult blood test).

Citation

Greenhough, A., Paraskeva, C., & Williams, A. C. (2015). Circulating prostaglandins as biomarkers for colorectal cancer?. EBioMedicine, 2(2), 105-106. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ebiom.2015.01.016

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Jan 26, 2015
• Online Publication Date: Jan 28, 2015
• Publication Date: Feb 1, 2015
• Journal: EBioMedicine
• Publisher: Elsevier
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 2
• Issue: 2
• Pages: 105-106
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ebiom.2015.01.016
• Public URL: https://uwe-repository.worktribe.com/output/838920
• Publisher URL: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ebiom.2015.01.016