Bowel cancer: Scottish scientists make breakthrough on cancer discovery and treatment

Cancer Research UK has said imaging technology can be used instead of biopsies when diagnosing the disease. Biopsies require an invasive procedure with a number of health risks, such as infection, and are limited in what they can capture within a patient’s bowel.

However, experts working with Cancer Research UK found Positron Emission Tomography (PET) imaging can allow the entire bowel to be examined and for tumours to be studied while inside the body, as opposed to examining the tumour tissue once it has been removed.

PET scans create a three-dimensional picture of the inside of the body. Researchers believe doing several scans during treatment could help monitor the cancer more effectively.

This approach of targeting treatment to a specific patient is known as precision medicine, a growing area of oncology.

Dr David Lewis, from the Cancer Research UK Scotland Institute and the University of Glasgow, who led the research, said: “Precision medicine has the potential to revolutionise cancer diagnosis and treatment. However, the development of accurate, informative and patient-friendly diagnostic techniques is crucial for its success.

“PET imaging offers a promising alternative, with the ability to survey the entire cancer landscape, allowing us to examine tumours in more detail while they are still growing.”

Bowel cancer can be found anywhere in the large bowel, which includes the colon and rectum. It is one of the most common types of cancer in the UK.

Symptoms include changes in bowel movements, blood in stool, pain, weight loss and tiredness.

While some of these symptoms are very common and can be caused by other conditions, NHS Scotland says it is important to get checked by a GP.

According to Cancer Research UK, around 4,000 people are diagnosed with bowel cancer in Scotland annually, and around 1,800 people diagnosed with the disease die each year.

The research team used existing genetic data on bowel cancer to identify different tumour characteristics using PET imaging. This would allow a more personalised approach for patients as treatments could be tailored to their particular cancer.

Patients can have different mutations in their bowel cancer. Mutations in genes such as KRAS, APC and TGFB have different image signatures.

Cancer Research has claimed PET imaging could identify the type of bowel cancer a patient has, by matching the image signature with the mutations, therefore allowing the patient to access the best treatment for their individual disease more quickly.

They were also able to discover several different types of bowel cancer in mice based on their genes.

Dr Catherine Elliott, director of research at Cancer Research UK, said: “These findings by the team at the Cancer Research UK Scotland Institute and University of Glasgow offer an exciting opportunity to revolutionise the way we diagnose and monitor bowel cancer without invasive surgery, reducing the risk and improving outcomes for patients.

“PET imaging is a crucial tool in our future approach to diagnosing this disease which affects so many people in Scotland.”