Precision medicine firm Oxford BioDynamics has announced the publication of compelling results involving its technology in a multi-centre study using blood to detect colorectal cancer (CRC), including early stage, and non-cancerous polyps with high accuracy.
The peer-reviewed work, published in the high-impact journal Cancers, was a collaboration between Oxford BioDynamics (OBD), Norwich Medical School (University of East Anglia), University Hospitals NHS Trust, Hospital Sultana Bahiyah, Island Hospital Penang, Hospital Pulau Pinang, Hospital Sultanah Aminah, and Mount Miriam Cancer Hospital (Malaysia) under the direction of leading UK and Malaysian colorectal cancer experts.
Using blood samples collected from 325 patients, the whole genome DNA screening for 3D EpiSwitch biomarkers in blood has identified and validated two eight-marker signatures (EpiSwitch NST) that allow diagnosis of CRC and precancerous polyps, respectively. Independent validation cohort testing demonstrated an exceptionally high accuracy of detection – 81% for early cancer stages and 82% for non-cancerous polyps. Linking the top diagnostic biomarkers to nearby genes, OBD used the EpiSwitch KnowledgeBase platform to map pathways that help understand the processes contributing to the pathology of polyp and CRC progression.
Principal clinical lead Professor Dmitry Pchejetski PhD., Professorial Research Fellow and Head of the Tumour Microenvironment and Chemotherapy group at Norwich Medical School, said: “I am excited by these findings. This test has the potential ability to detect early cancers and precancerous polyps with greater accuracy.”
Dr Alexandre Akoulitchev, OBD's Chief Scientific Officer added: “Reliable and non-invasive detection of early stages of colorectal cancer, as well as the polyps, has been the focus of strenuous efforts by a number of big biomarker companies deploying common biomarker modalities. To date the results in terms of sensitivity of detection for polyps and positive predictive value for cancer have been disappointing. Our own approach and these reported results demonstrate the consistent accuracy of EpiSwitch technology for the most challenging patient stratifications and will allow us to progress our ongoing commercial discussions with third parties.”
OBD’s EpiSwitch pipeline development has delivered a blood-based Colorectal No-Stool Test (NST) which shows significant potential as an accurate and rapid cancer screening diagnostic for early stages of cancer (sensitivity 84% and specificity 79%) and non-cancerous polyps (sensitivity 79% and specificity 83%). This accurate, rapid, minimally invasive, and cost-effective NST test was built using OBD’s EpiSwitch 3D genomics platform and methodology. For each patient, NST captures a personal, systemic fingerprint of specific regulatory network changes associated with early stages of colorectal cancer and/or non-cancerous polyps.
- Hunter E, Alshaker H, Weston C, et al. A New Blood-Based Epigenetic Diagnostic Biomarker Test (EpiSwitch NST) with High Sensitivity and Positive Predictive Value for Colorectal Cancer and Precancerous Polyps. Cancers. 2025; 17(3):521. doi:10.3390/cancers17030521