Abstract 995: Evaluation of plasma cytokines and chemokines as potential biomarkers for colorectal cancer detection

Abstract

Abstract Despite evidence suggesting that current Colorectal Cancer (CRC) screening strategies reduce mortality rates, screening compliance is suboptimal; for this, our study aimed to evaluate the discriminatory potential of plasma cytokine and chemokine levels for CRC detection in plasma samples in a Hispanic subpopulation. Using a retrospective case-control study design, we evaluated plasma samples in 20 CRC cases and 20 age-gender matched controls from the Puerto Rico Familial Colorectal Cancer Registry (PURIFICAR). BD CBA Human Th1/Th2/Th17 Cytokine and Human Chemokine kits were used to prepare plasma samples for flow cytometric analysis (Becton-Dickinson & Co). Mann-Whitney-U test was used to detect differences between biomarkers and case-control groups. Measures of diagnostic accuracy were estimated for comparisons according to CRC disease stage. We compared multivariable models to determine the best CRC case-classifier. The median levels of six of the cytokines evaluated (IL-2, IL-4, IL-6, IL-10, TNF, and IL-17A) and one chemokine (CXCL10-/IP-10) significantly differed between cases and controls (P<0.05). ROC plots and logistic regression analysis showed that these seven biomarkers displayed good to excellent accuracy (AUC: 0.6-0.9). Multivariate analysis showed that the best-case classifying model included the seven statistically significant markers. Our findings suggest that discriminatory biomarker levels between CRC cases and controls observed show their great potential as targets in novel blood-based screening tests for CRC. The development of a non-invasive CRC screening test will provide an alternative to increasing adherence, early detection, survivorship, and a tool for a population-based prevention strategy approach. Citation Format: Elba V. Caraballo, Hilmaris Centeno-Girona, Yilda Macias, Madeline M. Mártir Ocasio, Marcia R. Cruz-Correa. Evaluation of plasma cytokines and chemokines as potential biomarkers for colorectal cancer detection [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting 2023; Part 1 (Regular and Invited Abstracts); 2023 Apr 14-19; Orlando, FL. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2023;83(7_Suppl):Abstract nr 995.