N12016: Markers of systemic and mucosal inflammation as biomarkers of vulnerability to colorectal cancer.
Tuesday 5 September 2006
This research project will test the hypothesis that systemic inflammation (associated with high body-weight and adiposity) is causally linked with low-grade bowel mucosal inflammation, and that this condition is associated with higher risk of bowel cancer.
Background
The lifetime risk of bowel cancer in the UK is currently 5% in women and 5.6% in men and is the second most common cause of death from cancer in the UK. There is evidence that 75-80% of bowel cancer is attributable to diet but the mechanisms of action, and hence effective diet-related strategies for prevention remain elusive.
If a causal link can be established between systemic inflammation and low-grade colorectal mucosal inflammation, this approach may provide novel biomarkers of preclinical carcinogenesis that can be detected in blood and faeces.
Research Approach
- 100 healthy controls and 100 patients with a history of polyps will be recruited
- Each volunteer will provide anthropometric data (height, body mass index and waist to hip ratio) and samples of blood and faeces.
- Measures will be taken of C-reactive protein as a systemic marker of inflammation and faecal calprotectin, lactoferrin and Interleukin-6 as markers of colorectal inflammation.
- Using multivariate techniques, a search for evidence of associations in the two groups will be conducted.
- A search will also be conducted for correlations between inflammation and methylation assay to link the observations with ongoing FSA studies on DNA-methylation.