Promising Research to Find Colorectal Cancer Early

This year, 135,000 people will be told they have colorectal cancer, and 50,000 people will pass away from this disease. To reduce the number of people affected by colorectal cancer, the Prevent Cancer Foundation has invested millions of dollars into understanding how colorectal cancer develops and how it can be detected early. Funding research is critical to discovering new methods of prevention or early detection. If the cancer is detected early, we know that 90 percent of patients survive. Please meet Ranjan Preet, PhD, one of our newly funded researchers who is helping to Stop Cancer Before It Starts!® through her innovative colorectal cancer research.

In her lab at the University of Kansas Medical Center Research Institute, Dr. Preet is studying the potential for a new, non-invasive way to detect colorectal cancer early. The goal is to characterize a novel protein that is selectively secreted from colorectal cancer cells, with the possibility to explore this protein as a potential biomarker for the development of a non-invasive blood-based detection method for colorectal cancer. If we hit our goal, Dr. Preet noted, “these new advances will provide the one in three adults who are not currently being screened for colorectal cancer with more options for early detection in order to prevent colorectal cancer tumor development from reaching an untreatable stage.”

Dr. Preet was drawn to colorectal cancer prevention research because she saw the heavy burden of both treatment and financial costs on patients. She believed there had to be a way to detect this deadly disease in its early stages to reduce the physical, emotional and financial strain that it places on them.  “Colorectal cancer accounts for nearly 10 percent of all cancer deaths [in the United States]. The good news is that colorectal cancer incidence rates have dropped by 30 percent among adults ages 50 and older due to the increased emphasis toward colonoscopy screening. With more advances in technology…we can not only detect colon cancer at early stages but can also decide on suitable treatment strategies,” she said.

We look forward to hearing more from Dr. Preet about this study that may help Stop Cancer Before It Starts!® by increasing colorectal cancer screening options!

Dr. Preet holds the Lilly USA Research Award in Cancer Prevention and Early Detection.