For colorectal cancer, the only good screening test is one that is taken Tests for detecting hidden (“occult”) blood in stool is widely available Screenshot from USPSTF CRC screening video We have discussed before the challenge of raising colorectal cancer screening rates, and the fact that there are many options in addition to [...]
Calculating the odds of undetected colorectal cancer In a group of 200 adults aged 50 to 75, what are the chances of finding someone with undetected CRC? Many take chances with their health, in particular CRC screening The unscreened population for colorectal cancer is large. According to Exact Sciences (the manufacturer of the [...]
Why is stool such a difficult non-invasive starting material for early colorectal cancer detection? Fecal Immunohistochemistry Tests (FIT) and guiac-based Fecal Occult Blood tests (gFOBT) are inexpensive and widely available tests for colorectal cancer screening. However there remains a clear need for an accurate blood-based colorectal screening test. A stool collection vial for colorectal [...]
The power of methylation haplotypes How NGS technology informed biology and now transforming cancer diagnostics with an epigenomics Cambrian Explosion Finding a cell-free cancer signal is like finding a needle in a haystack... Of the 28 million CpG residues in the human genome, 60% to 80% of them are methylated at the 5’ [...]
Screen capture from Dr. Gore's video presentation of the Singlera early-detection technology. Singlera ASHG Presentation now available A video presentation by Dr. Athurva Gore, Assoc. Director of Bioinformatics Singlera Genomics, is now available. The title of his talk is "Circulating tumor DNA methylation haplotypes in plasma can detect cancer four years prior to [...]
Hurricane Katrina as seen from space The four fundamentals of early warning systems A way to look at early cancer detection A hurricane afflicts damage across Florida. Wildfires rage through California. A deadly typhoon afflicts central Japan after weeks of flooding. These natural disasters occur with disturbing regularity. An individual's health can also [...]
Mammography, a common cancer screening test Current screening approaches for early cancer detection The American Cancer Society screening recommendations and a thought experiment A recent article by a Stanford professor (and Andreessen Horowitz venture fund general partner) Vijay Pande in The Scientific American, entitled "How to Engineer Biology", subtitled 'Billion-dollar bridges rarely fail—whereas [...]
Why isn't cancer prevention a higher priority? Cancer death rates could be drastically reduced Cancer is the second leading cause of death worldwide. In a recent issue of the journal Science (Sept 28 2018, Vol 361 Issue 6409 page 1317, "Cancer Prevention: Molecular and epidemiologic consensus" Song M and Tomasetti C et al. ref 1) [...]
An Illustration of Big Data Big Data and Early Detection of Cancer Big Data is great when there is signal, not so great if there isn't any signal Big Data is a popular topic in this age of machine learning and artificial intelligence. There is plenty of activity in the healthcare realm, not [...]
A group of CAT scans of the human brain What if circulating tumor methylated DNA from brain cancer could be detected? Can ctmDNA be an early detection tool for glioblastoma multiforme? Gliblastoma Multiforme is a terrible form of brain cancer. With a reported 5-year survival rate of only 4.4%, at just the 3-year [...]
