Colon Cancer Research Today is a free monthly online journal that collates and summarizes the latest research about Colon Cancer, including details on causes, treatment, symptoms.

Detection of colonic dysplasia in vivo using a targeted heptapeptide and confocal microendoscopy.

Hsiung PL, Hardy J, Friedland S, Soetikno R, Du CB, Wu AP, Sahbaie P, Crawford JM, Lowe AW, Contag CH, Wang TD

Department of Pediatrics, Radiology and Microbiology & Immunology, Stanford University School of Medicine, 318 Campus Dr., Rm. E-150, Stanford, California 94305, USA.

A combination of targeted probes and new imaging technologies provides a powerful set of tools with the potential to improve the early detection of cancer. To develop a probe for detecting colon cancer, we screened phage display peptide libraries against fresh human colonic adenomas for high-affinity ligands with preferential binding to premalignant tissue. We identified a specific heptapeptide sequence, VRPMPLQ, which we synthesized, conjugated with fluorescein and tested in patients undergoing colonoscopy. We imaged topically administered peptide using a fluorescence confocal microendoscope delivered through the instrument channel of a standard colonoscope. In vivo images were acquired at 12 frames per second with 50-microm working distance and 2.5-microm (transverse) and 20-microm (axial) resolution. The fluorescein-conjugated peptide bound more strongly to dysplastic colonocytes than to adjacent normal cells with 81% sensitivity and 82% specificity. This methodology represents a promising diagnostic imaging approach for the early detection of colorectal cancer and potentially of other epithelial malignancies.

Published 8 April 2008 in Nat Med, 14(4): 454-8.
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