Bowel cancer breakthrough

Researchers hope identification of new RNA molecules will help doctors predict if a patient’s bowel cancer will return or not.

The University of Otago – Ōtākou Whakaihu Waka-led study could enable health professionals to separate colorectal cancer patients, who present at an early stage, into groups of who will and won’t go on to develop metastasis and disease recurrence.

Lead author Holly Pinkney, PhD candidate in the Department of Biochemistry, says this would result in better treatment outcomes as high-risk patients would receive additional chemotherapy, while those who are at low risk would avoid overtreatment.

“We currently don’t have a good prognostic marker to help clinicians decide whether a patient with early-stage disease needs to only have their tumour removed, or if they need additional chemotherapy as well if, for example, the cancer is particularly aggressive and likely to cause relapse later in life,” she says.

The study, published in npj Precision Oncology, used patient tissues from the Dunedin Colorectal Cancer Cohort.

The researchers identified three long noncoding RNAs (lncRNAs) which were found only in the cancer cells and not in any healthy tissues of the body.

Ms Pinkney says high levels of these lncRNAs were associated with worse outcomes for patients, meaning they have the potential to be predictors of patient prognosis.

“We used some exciting technologies to do this research, including spatial transcriptomics – using a picture of the tumour like a map to see exactly where genes are turned off or on – and AI, to help us predict what types of cells are present in the tumours.

“The development of new technologies, such as the spatial mapping of tumours or AI to make predictions about different parts of the tumour, are important for helping us do this research and highlight how new scientific developments can be harnessed for cancer research.”

Colorectal cancer makes up 10 per cent of all cancer deaths globally and was the second most common form of cancer death in the US in 2022.

“Aotearoa New Zealand, in particular the Southern region, has very high rates of bowel cancer – clinical developments are a priority for this disease.”