Guwahati: A team of scientists led by researchers from Assam’s Tezpur University has identified distinct chemical signatures in blood, offering fresh hope in the early detection of one of the deadliest and often undetected cancers in India.
The research reports the identification of specific blood-based ‘metabolic signatures’ that may serve as potential biomarkers for gallbladder cancer, a statement said.
Gallbladder cancer is among the deadliest gastrointestinal malignancies and shows a disproportionately high incidence in North East India, where it is the third most common cancer.
Published this month in the American Chemical Society’s ‘Journal of Proteome Research’, the study reported specific metabolite biomarkers in blood that may support earlier diagnosis of gallbladder cancer, an aggressive disease often detected late.
The study was led by assistant professor Dr Pankaj Barah and research scholar Dr Cinmoyee Baruah of Tezpur University’s department of molecular biology and biotechnology.
“Our findings show that changes in certain chemicals in blood (metabolites) can clearly distinguish gallbladder cancer cases with and without gallstones,” Barah said. He added that simple blood-based tests can help in earlier detection, though further validation and a clinical trial are expected in the next phase.
The pilot study, described as the first-of-its-kind from northeast India, analysed blood samples from three groups — patients with gallbladder cancer without gallstones, patients with gallbladder cancer and gallstones, and individuals with gallstones but no cancer.
Using advanced metabolomics techniques, the researchers detected hundreds of altered metabolites and of them 12 metabolite biomarkers in gallstone-free cancer cases, 20 in gallstone-associated cancer cases, and 30 common in both categories. “These metabolite biomarkers will help in the identification of patients who are at a higher risk of developing gallbladder cancer,” Baruah said.
The work involved an interdisciplinary collaboration of surgeons, pathologists, pharmaceutical scientists, molecular biologists and computational scientists.
The other members of the interdisciplinary team are Amit Rai of Carl R. Woese Institute for Genomic Biology, the U.S.; Anupam Sarma of Bhubaneswar Barooah Cancer Institute, Guwahati; Gayatri Gogoi, Uttam Konwar, and Utpal Dutta of Assam Medical College and Hospital, Dibrugarh; Subhash Khanna of Swagat Super Speciality and Surgical Hospital, Guwahati; and Sheelendra P. Singh of CSIR–Indian Institute of Toxicology Research, Lucknow.
“By linking tissue pathology with blood metabolomics, this research bridges the gap between laboratory discoveries and clinical diagnosis,” said Dr Gayatri Gogoi, pathologist at Assam Medical College.
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GBC, a rare but highly aggressive malignancy, is the sixth-most common hepatobiliary cancer, with high mortality rates and a five-year survival of less than 10%. It shows unusual geographical heterogeneity, with the highest incidences from three countries in South America and four in Asia, including India and Japan.
