Korean researchers develop blood and urine test for early colorectal cancer detection

From left, Lee Min-young, senior researcher at the Advanced Bio and Healthcare Materials Research Division at the Korea Institute of Materials Science (KIMS), and Park Sung-kyu, director of the Global Top Research Consortium at the institute / Courtesy of KIMS

A research team at the Korea Institute of Materials Science (KIMS) has developed a plasmonics-based liquid biopsy platform capable of detecting cancer-related gene mutations in the blood and urine of patients with early-stage colorectal cancer, paving the way for less invasive cancer diagnosis, KIMS said Wednesday.

The research team, led by Lee Min-young, senior researcher at the Advanced Bio and Healthcare Materials Research Division, and Park Sung-kyu, director of the Global Top Research Consortium, developed a new testing platform capable of detecting KRAS mutations, a key genetic driver of colorectal cancer, with very high sensitivity.

To test the technology, the researchers analyzed tumor tissue as well as matching blood and urine samples from patients with stage 0 and stage 1 colorectal cancer. The results showed more than 90 percent agreement across the different sample types, suggesting that the method could serve as a reliable alternative to conventional tissue biopsies.

The study builds on KIMS' earlier work detecting lung cancer-related gene mutations in blood samples. This time, the researchers expanded the technology to colorectal cancer and demonstrated that cancer-linked genetic changes can be detected not only in blood but also in urine.

Liquid biopsies are drawing growing interest worldwide because they require only blood or urine samples rather than the removal of tissue from a patient's body. They can also be repeated more easily, making them useful for early diagnosis, monitoring treatment response and tracking whether cancer returns after treatment.

One of the biggest challenges, however, is that genetic material released by tumors is often present in extremely small amounts during the early stages of cancer, making existing testing methods less effective at detecting such tiny traces.

The newly developed liquid biopsy platform combines plasmonic signal enhancement with a method that selectively amplifies cancer-related genes, allowing researchers to detect extremely small amounts of KRAS mutations with high accuracy.

gettyimagesbank

The researchers said the platform could eventually be used for a wide range of cancers and disease markers. It may also help reduce Korea's reliance on overseas diagnostic technologies in the rapidly growing global liquid biopsy market.

They also noted that the technology could be expanded to other cancers, including lung and pancreatic cancer, creating new opportunities for Korea's precision diagnostics and medical device industries.

"We plan to refine the platform for use across a wider range of cancers, with the goal of improving early detection and post-treatment monitoring," Lee said.

Park said, "Combining plasmonic materials with advanced diagnostic technologies could pave the way for more sophisticated next-generation precision diagnostics."

The findings were published online on May 2 in npj Precision Oncology, a leading journal in the field of precision medicine.

The research team has secured related intellectual property rights and plans to pursue technology transfer and commercialization.