A Novel Stool Methylation Test for the Non-Invasive Screening of Gastric and Colorectal Cancer

BACKGROUND: Because of poor compliance or low sensitivity, existing diagnostic approaches are unable to provide an efficient diagnosis of patients with gastric and colorectal cancer. Here, we developed the ColoCaller test, which simultaneously detects the methylation status of the SDC2, TFPI2, WIF1, and NDRG4 genes in stool DNA, to optimize the screening of gastric and colorectal cancer in high-risk populations. METHODS: A total of 217 stool samples from patients with gastrointestinal cancer and from patients with negative endoscopy were prospectively collected, complete with preoperative and postoperative clinical data from patients. The methylation of these samples was detected using ColoCaller, which was designed by selecting CpGs with a two-step screening strategy, and was interpreted using a prediction model built using libSVM to evaluate its clinical value for gastric and colorectal cancer screening. RESULTS: Compared to pathological diagnosis, the sensitivity and specificity of the ColoCaller test in 217 stool DNA samples were 95.56% and 91.86%, respectively, for colorectal cancer, and 67.5% and 97.81%, respectively, for gastric cancer. The detection limit was as low as 1% in 8 ng of DNA. CONCLUSION: In this study, we developed and established a new test, ColoCaller, which can be used as a screening tool or as an auxiliary diagnostic approach in high-risk populations with gastric and colorectal cancer to promote timely diagnosis and treatment.