Fight Colorectal Cancer (Fight CRC), in partnership with Collaborative Group of the Americas on Inherited Gastrointestinal Cancer (CGA-IGC), has granted the “Early Career Award” to support research, quality improvement, or community engagement projects to advance science, clinical care, or advocacy for patients with inherited colorectal cancer syndromes, familial colorectal cancer, or early onset colorectal cancer (EOCRC) since 2022. This grant was awarded to Timothy Yen, MD, of Loma Linda University Medical Center in 2022 and Alessandro Mannucci, MD, of Beckman Research Institute of City of Hope in 2023 for their research projects aimed to drive progress in science and clinical care. Since the granting of their awards, Dr. Yen and Dr. Mannucci, have made tremendous contributions to their respective fields.

With the support of the 2022 Fight CRC and CGA-IGC “Early Career Award,” Dr. Yen launched a pilot program at Loma Linda University aimed to improve provider-patient communication of the risk for familial colorectal cancer in those with advanced polyps using electronic health records (EHR). First-degree biological relatives (parents, siblings, and children) of patients with advanced polyps or colorectal cancer have an increased risk for developing colorectal cancer, which may impact the age to begin and the frequency by which their health-care provider recommends colorectal cancer screening.

Dr. Yen developed and implemented a standardized EHR template that easily allows for gastroenterologists performing colonoscopies to make appropriate follow-up recommendations for familial colorectal cancer screening based on current guidelines after the detection of an advanced polyp.

At the end of this pilot study, there was a 30% increase in endoscopists communicating the appropriate follow-up colorectal cancer screening for families of patients diagnosed with an advanced polyp using the EHR template. The template was more often utilized by early career general gastroenterologists during this pilot study.

Dr. Yen and his colleague presented this work in a poster presentation titled “Integrated pathology result letter templates in the electronic health record improve colonoscopist compliance with familial colorectal screening guidelines among patients with advanced colorectal polyps” at the international Digestive Disease Week (DDW) conference in May 2024 in Washington, D.C.

The 2023 Fight CRC and CGA-IGC “Early Career Award” was granted to Dr. Mannucci to support the development of a noninvasive, blood-based screening test for detecting EOCRC using microRNAs, or a type of RNA that can stop the production of certain proteins.

Since receiving the award, Dr. Mannucci has been able to identify several microRNAs that are found at higher levels in blood samples from EOCRC patients compared to healthy patients. This panel of microRNA biomarkers can be used to develop a blood-based screening test for the early detection of EOCRC. This work was recently presented by Dr. Mannucci at DDW in a poster titled “Development of an exosome-based liquid biopsy powered by machine learning for the detection of early-onset colorectal cancer.”

A second study by Dr. Mannucci and colleagues, also supported by the 2023 “Early Career Award,” identified a novel microRNA signature that can be used to predict EOCRC patients that are at high risk of recurrence in the five years following a curative-intent surgery.

In the future, monitoring patients for this signature could serve as an alternative or additional surveillance strategy for EOCRC patients following curative-intent surgery. Dr. Mannucci presented the findings from this study in a lecture titled “Development and validation of a miRNA-based signature, powered by machine learning, for predicting 5-year disease-free survival after surgery in early-onset colorectal cancer” at DDW.

Another study conducted by Dr. Mannucci and supported by the 2023 “Early Career Award,” evaluated the accuracy of the Spigelman staging system, a method that uses characteristics of polyps found in the duodenum (the first section of the small intestine) to predict risk of developing duodenal cancer and guide clinical decision making in patients with familial adenomatous polyposis (FAP).

This study was a systematic review and meta-analysis, which allows for the combination and analysis of data from multiple previous studies, that suggested strategies for optimizing the Spigelman staging system and improving its sensitivity. The findings of this study, “The Spigelman Staging System and the Risk of Duodenal and Papillary Cancer in Familial Adenomatous Polyposis: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis” were published in The American Journal of Gastroenterology and presented at DDW.

Applications for the 2024 Fight CRC and CGA-IGC “Early Career Award” are now open!

We encourage all early career researchers interested in furthering the advancement of science, clinical care, or advocacy for patients with inherited, familial, or early onset colorectal cancer to consider applying for the 2024 Fight CRC and CGA-IGC “Early Career Award.”

To learn more about the grant requirements and to complete an application, please visit Grant Opportunities | CGA-IGC. Applications close on August 23, 2024.