Yale Researchers Use New Technology to Identify Colon Cancer

Yale University researchers report development of a novel digital imaging technology capable of pinpointing protein expression patterns in cells that cause diseases such as colon cancer.

"This is a breakthrough for new bio-specific drug discovery since it allows measurement of proteins that will determine if the patient is likely to respond to the therapy," said Dr. David L. Rimm, associate professor of pathology.

In their study, the researchers used tissue microarrays -- slides with tiny tissue samples from hundreds of patients on a single slide. Appling the new imaging technology to beta-catenin, a new molecular marker associated with colon cancer, they reported in the journal Nature Medicine that they identified two novel tumor subsets not detectable by traditional pathology.

Rimm said that without this new technology, it would have been impossible to identify these new relationships between beta catenin protein expression patterns in colon cancer patients and clinical outcome.

"Traditional pathology remains critical for a primary diagnosis, but in the future, quantitative assessment of expression levels of proteins in various locations will be extremely important for determining optimal therapy," Rimm said.

Other Sources: Yale University