Study Finds Promising Biomarker for Tailoring Chemotherapy in Colon Cancer Patients

In a recent study published in a journal cell report medicine, researchers discovered that many people with stage II or III colon cancer receive additional, or adjuvant, chemotherapy following surgery. However, clinical trials have shown that this treatment doesn’t improve the chances of survival for every patient. The findings indicated that a 10-gene biomarker that potentially predicts whether a stage II or III colon cancer patient will benefit from adjuvant chemotherapy.

The study, led by Steven Chen, Ph.D., a researcher at the Sylvester Comprehensive Cancer Center at the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine, utilised application of machine learning and artificial intelligence to cancer research, primarily focusing on colorectal and breast cancer. Colon cancer patients’ tumours have many different genomic profiles, so the team aggregated gene expression profiles from six publicly available sources to create a 933-patient data set, making it one of the largest gene expression datasets for stage 2 and 3 colon cancer.

The team of data scientists carefully curated and rigorously tested their data to identify a precise gene signature for predicting chemotherapy responses. Their goal was to create a practical and concise signature, so they employed machine learning to analyse a vast network of potentially relevant genes. Through this process, they initially narrowed the list to 18 genes and then refined it further to just 10 key genes.

The researchers found that the gene signature could potentially predict whether immunotherapy would help some patients. It is important because there are not yet clear guidelines on which colon cancer patients might benefit from immunotherapy.

In conclusion, the findings suggested that the gene signature offers a promising tool for personalising treatment strategies, enabling more precise and effective use of chemotherapy. By distinguishing patients who are likely to benefit from adjuvant therapy from those who might not, the signature could help reduce overtreatment and improve overall outcomes. Future research should focus on integrating this signature into clinical practice and evaluating its impact on long-term survival and quality of life for colon cancer patients.

Reference: Chaohan Xu, Peng Xia, Jie Li, J. Joshua Smith, R. Daniel Beauchamp, X. Steven Chen; Discovery and validation of a 10-gene predictive signature for response to adjuvant chemotherapy in stage II and III colon cancer; cell report medicine; July 2024; DOI:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.xcrm.2024.101661