Colostage is a new diagnostic test that can estimate the likelihood of cancer reappearance in a given patient suffering CRC by analyzing the expression of a small set of genes in the primary tumor. Patients with low expression of these markers in their primary tumors virtually remain disease-free whereas an elevated percentage of CRC patients whose tumors were highly positive for Colostage markers suffer tumor recurrence. Socioeconomic impact is high. This new diagnostic test will help doctors and their patients to make informed and individualized treatment decisions, helping to save lives. Moreover, with more than one million new cases of CRC diagnosed per year, the possibility of sparing unnecessary chemotherapeutic treatments would represent substantial savings for health care systems and will prevent unnecessary suffering to patients. As an added value, Colostage is based on the expression of target molecules of a specific signaling pathway. Therefore, it provides an accompanying diagnostic test to facilitate the selection of those patients more likely to benefit from treatment with novel drugs that target the signaling pathway reflected by our markers. We anticipate that pharmaceutical companies developing these compounds (and there are several) will benefit from our test as an in vitro Companion Diagnostic tool. ERC-PoC grant has helped bridge the gap to bring this technology to commercialization. Our team will soon found a spin-off company to commercialize the Colostage test.
