Previstage™ GCC Colorectal Cancer Staging Test
Click to play animation
Previstage™ GCC is a new molecular test for the staging of colorectal cancer patients. The stage describes the severity of the cancer and helps a physician determine whether to recommend additional treatment. A physician considers several factors when determining the stage of a patient’s, such as the tumor size and location and whether there is cancer metastasis in the lymph nodes surrounding the original tumor site.
The current standard method for identifying metastasis in the lymph nodes involves microscopic examination of a thin slice of tissue from the lymph nodes harvested during the patient's surgery. This slice amounts to less than 1% of a lymph node’s volume, and the microscopic examination has a detection sensitivity of 1 cancer cell in every 200 normal cells. Unfortunately, with this method, up to 20% of patients thought to have disease confined to the colon (stage I or II) return later with recurrent disease, presumably through cancer cells that were missed during microscopic examination.
In contrast, the technology employed by the Previstage™ GCC Colorectal Cancer Staging Test can detect as few as 1 cancer cell among up to 10 million normal cells, and an average of 375 times more nodal tissue is examined. In the test, minute quantities of GCC (GUCY2C) messenger RNA are amplified to magnify the presence of cancer cells. Previstage™ GCC could therefore be a leap forward which would provide physicians a significantly more sensitive tool for staging patients with colorectal cancer. Knowing the correct stage when the cancer is initially detected can assist physicians in making the appropriate treatment decision such as adjuvant chemotherapy. Early treatment may reduce the possibility of recurrence and associated mortality rate.
Previstage™ GCC is currently offered by Signal Genetics.