Making colorectal cancer prevention personalized, based on the risk that each individual has of getting sick: this is the objective of Bioscope, the research project funded by Airc and led by the Cancer Prevention Center of Turin in which the genomics laboratory of the Edo Tempia Fund, together with the gastroenterology and digestive endoscopy structure of the ASL of Biella, led by Franco Ferrero. Above all, the citizens of Biella also participate, for now more than seventy, recruited among those who have reached the age to enter the screening program.
Today the population is invited every two years to the test for occult blood in the faeces. «The objectives of the study» explains Giovanna Chiorino, director of the genomics laboratory «are to find a scheme that allows us to predict the onset of a colorectal tumor or a precancerous lesion and, on a practical level, to vary the times with which you are called to carry out the tests based on the risk rate of each person, in order to personalize the screening ».
In addition to inviting those positive to the occult blood test to carry out a colonoscopy, the project led by Carlo Senore of the Cpo also invites a quota of those who are negative, but have a cumulative faecal hemoglobin value, given by the sum of the results of two consecutive exams, exceeding 100. The others are invited to repeat the test after one year or after two years. People who agree to undergo a colonoscopy are invited to the outpatient clinics of the Fondo Edo Tempia to take a blood sample and collect a test tube for collecting a further stool sample before preparing for the exam. Furthermore, they are submitted to an online questionnaire which allows them to draw in depth the lifestyle of each one, from daily habits to nutrition. «It is a similar scheme» adds Chiorino «to the one already tested for the Andromeda project, which aimed to personalize breast cancer screening for women». About 20 thousand Piedmontese women had been recruited for that study, five thousand of which in Biella.
The blood sample will be used to identify the presence of circulating biomarkers, useful for predicting the presence of a possible lesion, while the stool sample will be used for the analysis of the intestinal microbiome, the genetic heritage possessed by all the microorganisms and viruses that they live in and colonize the intestine. This type of study is also proposed to people who are negative following the occult blood test: a proportion of them is invited to repeat the test after two years, the other after three years. All are also asked to provide blood and stool samples and complete the questionnaire. A subgroup will also be offered colonoscopy.
In the month of March, dedicated by the international medical-scientific community to the prevention of colorectal cancer, it is important to remember how essential it is to participate in regional screenings. Reservations and information are available on the toll-free number 800.001141 (every day from 8 to 20) or by calling the secretariat of the Edo Tempia Fund on 015.351830, from Monday to Friday from 8.30 to 18. Today, thanks to the Bioscope project, citizens citizens of Biella also have the possibility of being part of an important research project which will be able to improve the prevention programme, personalizing it.
cedo background, temple, s.zo.