Discovery and Validation of Plasma-Protein Biomarker Panels for the Detection of Colorectal Cancer and Advanced Adenoma in a Danish Collection of Samples from Patients Referred for Diagnostic Colonoscopy

Background: Well-collected and well-documented sample repositories are necessary for disease biomarker development. The availability of significant numbers of samples with the associated patient information enables biomarker validation to proceed with maximum efficacy and minimum bias. The creation and utilization of such a resource is an important step in the development of blood-based biomarker tests for colorectal cancer. Methods: We have created a subject data and biological sample resource, Endoscopy II, which is based on 4698 individuals referred for diagnostic colonoscopy in Denmark between May 2010 and November 2012. Of the patients referred based on 1 or more clinical symptoms of colorectal neoplasia, 512 were confirmed by pathology to have colorectal cancer and 399 were confirmed to have advanced adenoma. Using subsets of these sample groups in case-control study designs (300 patients for colorectal cancer, 302 patients for advanced adenoma), 2 panels of plasma-based proteins for colorectal cancer and 1 panel for advanced adenoma were identified and validated based on ELISA data obtained for 28 proteins from the samples. Results: One of the validated colorectal cancer panels was comprised of 8 proteins (CATD, CEA, CO3, CO9, SEPR, AACT, MIF, and PSGL) and had a validation ROC curve area under the curve (AUC) of 0.82 (CI 0.75-0.88). There was no significant difference in the performance between early- and late-stage cancer. The advanced adenoma panel was comprised of 4 proteins (CATD, CLUS, GDF15, SAA1) and had a validation ROC curve AUC of 0.65 (CI 0.56-0.74). Conclusions: These results suggest that the development of blood-based aids to colorectal cancer detection and diagnosis is feasible.