Dr. Scott Corbett and Dr. Domenico Coppola, director of pathology at Florida Digestive Health Specialists, were recently published in the international journal Digestive Diseases and Sciences. Their findings open the pathway to identifying patients at risk of Barrett’s Esophagus using a microRNA Signature. This research is significant, as experts will be able to identify BE progression based on microscopic anatomy and reliably differentiate cases of BE that did not develop into dysplasia or cancer from BE cases that developed carcinoma.
“The importance of the results reported is that we can use this signature as a mean of screening Barrett’s patients to identify those that have propensity to progress to dysplasia and cancer (BEP patients),” said Dr. Coppola. “These BEP patients could be enrolled in more stringent screening and surveillance programs, potentially facilitating the detection of BE-early dysplastic lesions and ultimately reducing the incidence of EAC through prevention of BE progression.”
Progression of Barrett’s Esophagus (BE) to esophageal cancer occurs among in only a small minority of BE patients.