Four recent gastroenterology research developments from the past 10 days:
1. Researchers at the Mayo Clinic Cancer Center have found that the drug adagrasib could be helpful in the treatment of gastrointestinal cancers.
The drug targets the KRAS G12C gene mutation, which is common in gastrointestinal cancers and inhibits gastrointestinal function. Research on adagrasib is still being conducted.
2. Clinical stage medical diagnostics company Check-Cap received approval from the FDA for its amended Investigational Device Exemption application for C-Scan, allowing for a pivotal U.S. study. The company said C-Scan is noninvasive and allows physicians to detect polyps before they become colorectal cancer.
3. Colorectal cancer screening rates could be improved if health systems include a "primer message" to patients on their patient portals, a study published Feb. 4 in JAMA Network suggests.
The study found that those receiving the automated primer message were six percent more likely to complete the screening. They also completed their screenings more quickly than those in the control group.
4. Researchers at NYU Langone Health in New York City created a new metric for determining the likelihood of developing colorectal cancer for those younger than 50. It involves a score based on a combination of two calculations.
The first shows how likely a person is to develop cancers in the digestive tract organs based on polygenic risk or changes in the DNA code, which makes them more susceptible. The second calculation is derived from lifestyle factors such as smoking habits and fiber intake. The score is a number between zero and one.