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May 5, 2014
News Release
Alicia Reale
Department of Marketing and
Communications
11100 Euclid Avenue
Cleveland, OH 44106
216 844 3825
[email protected]
Researchers present findings on promising biomarker for esophageal cancer
Findings from University Hospitals Case Medical Center and Case Western Reserve University
School of Medicine at Digestive Disease Week 2014
CLEVELAND – A new biomarker for esophageal cancer shows promise in improving screening for
this deadly disease and its precursor, Barrett’s esophagus.
Amitabh Chak, MD, of University Hospitals Case Medical Center’s Seidman Cancer Center and
Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine, presented findings today at Digestive Disease
Week in Chicago in a research forum titled “Aberrant Vimentin Methylation in Esophageal
Brushings: A Biomarker for Detecting Barrett’s Esophagus and Esophageal Adenocarcinoma”
(embargoed May 5, 9:15 am CT).
Dr. Chak and a research team found that a change in the DNA, methylation of the vimentin gene, can
be an effective new less-invasive test for detecting Barrett’s esophagus (BE). In 117 patients, they
examined if a new, non-endoscopic “brushing” of the esophagus is as effective as the more invasive,
traditional biopsy.
Affecting up to 6.8 percent of the population, BE is a leading predictor of esophageal cancer.
Compared with the general population, patients with BE have an 11-fold higher risk of developing
adenocarcinoma of the esophagus.
“Despite the fact that the rates of common cancers have declined in recent years, esophageal cancer
has a poor five-year survival rate of less than 15 percent,” said Dr. Chak, who is also with the UH
Digestive Health Institute. “Early detection through screening can prevent the development of
esophageal cancer. This promising new test has important clinical implications through its potential
to improve screening and decrease mortality from this deadly disease.”
The research builds upon previous work by the team that aberrant vimentin methylation is a highly
common epigenetic alteration in neoplasia of the upper gastrointestinal tract. In this study, they
analyzed esophageal specimens in patients with BE, esophageal cancer as well as control subjects.
The data determined that methylated vimentin is a highly sensitive biomarker for Barrett’s esophagus
and that the less invasive brushing technique can effectively detect these changes in the DNA.
The study is funded through the Barrett's Esophagus Translational Research Network (BETRNet), a
$5.4 million grant to Case Western Reserve University School of Medicine. The five-year award
supports a research team, led by Dr. Chak, collaborating to develop an understanding of the basis of
Barrett's esophagus and its conversion to esophageal carcinoma through genetic, molecular and
physiologic studies.
The study is collaborative with the National Cancer Institute’s Specialized Program of Research
Excellence (SPORE) in Gastrointestinal (GI) Cancers award to the School of Medicine. The $11.3
million SPORE grant, led by Sanford Markowitz, MD, focuses on translational research aimed at
reducing the incidence and deaths from colon and esophageal cancers. The study is additionally
supported by the NCI’s Early Detection Research Network (EDRN) program that is also led by Dr.
Markowitz, and is supported by a $1.5 million NCI grant to Case Western Reserve.
“Our team's hope is that the use of molecular markers for non-endoscopic screening will drive down
the cost and increase the ease of screening for these early esophageal lesions that can give rise to
cancer,” said Dr. Markowitz, an oncologist at UH Case Medical Center Seidman Cancer Center and
Ingalls Professor of Cancer Genetics at Case Western Reserve School of Medicine. “Longer term we
hope to find additional markers that will allow the same approach to be used in the monitoring of
Barrett's patients to detect early progression to more advanced disease.”
Senior faculty collaborators on the research team included Dr. Chak, Dr. Markowitz and Joseph
Willis, MD, Vice-Chair of the Department of Pathology at UH and the School of Medicine. First
author on the report is Helena Moinova, PhD, instructor in the Department of Medicine at the School
of Medicine, who was also assisted by James Lutterbaugh and Apoorva Chandar.
“This is true translational research, bringing a discovery from the laboratory to the patient care
setting,” said Dr. Chak. “This new technique to sensitively detect changes in the DNA may have
significant implication for the clinical practice of screening and primary prevention of esophageal
cancer.”
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About University Hospitals
University Hospitals, the second largest employer in Northeast Ohio, serves the needs of patients through an integrated
network of hospitals, outpatient centers and primary care physicians in 16 counties. At the core of our health system is
University Hospitals Case Medical Center, one of only 18 hospitals in the country to have been named to U.S. News &
World Report’s most exclusive rankings list: the Best Hospitals 2013-14 Honor Roll. The primary affiliate of Case
Western Reserve University School of Medicine, UH Case Medical Center is home to some of the most prestigious
clinical and research centers of excellence in the nation and the world, including cancer, pediatrics, women's health,
orthopaedics and spine, radiology and radiation oncology, neurosurgery and neuroscience, cardiology and cardiovascular
surgery, organ transplantation and human genetics. Its main campus includes the internationally celebrated UH Rainbow
Babies & Children's Hospital, ranked among the top children’s hospitals in the nation; UH MacDonald Women's
Hospital, Ohio's only hospital for women; and UH Seidman Cancer Center, part of the NCI-designated Case
Comprehensive Cancer Center at Case Western Reserve University. UH Case Medical Center is the 2012 recipient of the
American Hospital Association – McKesson Quest for Quality Prize for its leadership and innovation in quality
improvement and safety. For more information, go to www.uhhospitals.org