High detection rate for Epigenomics' blood test

Epigenomics AG, a German firm developing DNA methylation-based diagnostics, presented strong clinical data on its colorectal cancer early-detection blood marker. According to the firm, the results, which were presented at the 2006 Gastrointestinal Cancer congress in Barcelona, Spain, indicate that, combined with a second proprietary marker, the test is able to detect polyps without many false positive results.

The study was based on a total of 49 blood plasma samples from patients with colon polyps, the benign proliferations that can give rise to cancer, and 22 without. The test's detection rate for polyps larger than 1cm was 67% and 100% for adenomas with intraepithelial neoplasia, which have an 80% likelihood of progressing to invasive cancer.