Utility of ancillary studies in the diagnosis and risk assessment of Barrett’s esophagus and dysplasia

Barrett’s esophagus (BE) is a major risk factor for the development of esophageal adenocarcinoma (EAC). BE patients undergo periodic endoscopic surveillance with biopsies to detect dysplasia and EAC, but this strategy is imperfect owing to sampling error and inconsistencies in the diagnosis and grading of dysplasia, which may result in an inaccurate diagnosis or risk assessment for progression to EAC. The desire for more accurate diagnosis and better risk stratification has prompted the investigation and development of potential biomarkers that might assist pathologists and clinicians in the management of BE patients, allowing more aggressive endoscopic surveillance and treatment options to be targeted to high-risk individuals, while avoiding frequent surveillance or unnecessary interventions in those at lower risk. It is known that progression of BE to dysplasia and EAC is accompanied by a host of genetic alterations, and that exploration of these markers could be potentially useful to diagnose/grade dysplasia and/or to risk stratify BE patients. Several biomarkers have shown promise in identifying early neoplastic transformation and thus may be useful adjuncts to histologic evaluation. This review provides an overview of some of the currently available biomarkers and assays, including p53 immunostaining, Wide Area Transepithelial Sampling with Three-Dimensional Computer-Assisted Analysis (WATS(3D)), TissueCypher, mutational load analysis (BarreGen), fluorescence in situ hybridization, and DNA content abnormalities as detected by DNA flow cytometry.