Researchers from Trinity College Dublin, Dublin City University and University College Dublin will use newly-awarded funding of €670,000 from Enterprise Ireland’s Commercialisation Fund to develop a breakthrough blood- based screening test for bowel cancer (colorectal cancer, CRC).
The team, working with clinicians at St Vincent’s University Hospital, seeks to transform cancer outcomes by moving screening away from invasive or unpleasant methods to their simple, high-accuracy blood test, named CASPDx CRC.
The CASPDx team is now initiating the formal validation of their product. Patients are being recruited in all Bowel Screen Centres in the HSE Dublin and South East region as part of clinical validation studies,
with assistance of the UCD Clinical Research Centre. While the CASPDx CRC test is still at clinical validation and immunoassay development phases, the team aim to launch the test and spin-out as a company by the end of 2027.
Dr Emma Creagh, Associate Professor in Biochemistry at Trinity College Dublin and Scientific Lead, CASPDx, said: “Inflammation is a process essential for immunity, tissue maintenance and repair; however, it can also contribute to cancer growth, progression and metastasis. Our research has identified specific inflammation markers that become increased during CRC development and progression. The blood test we are developing will identify possible CRC patients by detecting these inflammatory markers directly from their blood sample.”
CRC is the second-leading cause of cancer mortality globally, according to the World Health Organisation. Despite being highly treatable when caught early, over 60 per cent of cases are currently diagnosed at a late stage.
Another problem comes from the current screening options, which rely on invasive colonoscopies or unpopular stool-based kits. These consequently suffer from low patient uptake, resulting in over one-third of eligible individuals skipping screening entirely. Notably, existing tests also lack accuracy and miss early cases.
And while there are some novel tests with increased accuracy, these are cost-prohibitive for use in national screening programmes and many are only available in the US.
But high incidence also translates into high costs, with CRC estimated to have cost the EU €19 billion in 2020, according to a report by non-profit organisation Digestive Cancers Europe.
Prof Glen Doherty, Consultant Gastroenterologist at St Vincent’s University Hospital, said: “The current waiting lists for colonoscopy require us to find more efficient ways to prioritise patients. The potential for a reliable blood-based screening test is a significant step forward. Beyond simply detecting bowel cancer at an earlier, more treatable stage, these tests could help us identify which patients truly require a colonoscopy following a positive stool test. By improving our diagnostic accuracy through a simple blood draw, we could reduce the number of unnecessary colonoscopies, ensuring that hospital resources are focused on the patients who need them most.”
