Identification of faecal extracellular vesicles as novel biomarkers for the non-invasive diagnosis and prognosis of colorectal cancer

Sep 24, 2026

Colorectal cancer (CRC) is one of the most common malignancies and is often detected late, because existing diagnostic tools are either invasive or lack sufficient sensitivity for early lesions. This study identifies extracellular vesicles in patient faeces as a biomarker source for non-invasive CRC diagnosis and prognosis. Two transmembrane proteins, CD147 and A33, are found on faeces-derived EVs and show elevated levels in CRC patients versus healthy donors, outperforming CEA for clinical sensitivity. Longitudinal monitoring further supports use in prognosis tracking and patient outcome surveillance during clinical interventions.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryHealthcare

FormatPDF

Pages12

Reading Time30 min

AccessFree to download

Abstract

Introduction

CRC burden and need for early screening

Limitations of current diagnostic tools and biomarkers

Rationale for faecal extracellular vesicle biomarkers

DOI: 10.1002/jev2.12300 RESEARCH ARTICLE Identification of faecal extracellular vesicles as novel biomarkers for the non-invasive diagnosis and prognosis of colorectal cancer Zhaowei Zhang􀀃 Jiying Cong􀀆 Xuehui Liu􀀃, 􀀄 Xiaoqing Yang􀀅 Ying Jiang􀀃 Ang Li􀀃 Yuwei Li􀀆 Qinjian Xie􀀇 Chen Xu􀀆 Dingbin Liu􀀃 1 State Key Laboratory of Medicinal Chemical Biology, Research Center for Analytical Sciences, and Tianjin Key Laboratory of Molecular Recognition and Biosensing, College of Chemistry, Nankai University, Tianjin, China 2Tianjin Institute of Urology, the 2nd Hospital of Tianjin Medical University, Tianjin, China 3Department of Colorectal Surgery, Tianjin Union Medical Center, Tianjin Institute of Coloproctology, School of Medicine, Nankai University, Tianjin, China 4 Gansu Corps Hospital ofCAPF, Lanzhou, China 5 College of Pharmacy, Third Military Medical University, Chongqing, China Correspondence Chen Xu, Department of Colorectal Surgery, Tianjin Union Medical Center, Tianjin Institute of Coloproctology, School of Medicine, Nankai University, Tianjin 300071, China. [Email:](Email: xc198129@163.com)[ xc198129@163.com](Email: xc198129@163.com) Dingbin Liu, State Key Laboratory of Medicinal Chemical Biology, Research Center for Analytical Sciences, and Tianjin Key Laboratory of Molecular Recognition and Biosensing, College of Chemistry, Nankai University, Tianjin 300071, China. Email: [liudb@nankai.edu.cn](liudb@nankai.edu.cn) Funding information National Natural Science Foundation of China, Grant/Award Numbers: 21977053, 22174072; National Key R&D Program of China, Grant/Award Number: 2019YFA0210100 Abstract Colorectal cancer (CRC) is one of the most common malignancies that is usually detected late in the clinic. The currently available diagnostic tools for CRC are either invasive or insensitive to early lesions due to the dearth of reliable biomarkers. In this study, we discovered that the extracellular vesicles (EVs) in the faeces of CRC patients can act as a potent biomarker for the non-invasive diagnosis and prognosis ofCRC. This finding is based on the identification of two transmembrane proteins—CD147 and A33—on faeces-derived EVs (fEVs) that are intrinsically associated with CRC. The detection results show that the levels of CD147 and A33 on fEVs were upregulated in the CRC patients (n = 48), dramatically distinguishing them from the healthy donors (n = 16) . The CD147/A33-enriched EVs offer a clinical sensitivity of 89%, much higher than that (40%) of carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA), a clinically-established serum biomarker for CRC diagnosis. In addition, the analysis of longitudinal faeces samples (n = 29) demonstrated that the CD147/A33-enriched fEVs can be utilized to track the prognosis of CRC. Due to the high compliance of faeces-based detection, the CD147/A33-enriched fEVs could serve as new-generation CRC biomarkers for large-scale, non-invasive CRC screening as well as real-time monitoring of patient outcomes during clinical interventions. KEYWORDS biomarkers, clinical diagnosis, colorectal cancer, extracellular vesicles, faeces 􀀃 INTRODUCTION Colorectal cancer (CRC) ranks third in common malignancies and is the second leading cause of death concerning cancer (Sunget al., 2021) . Most CRCs develop from precursor lesions such as adenomatous polyps or sessile serrated lesions (Erichsen et al., Zhaowei Zhang, Xuehui Liu, and Xiaoqing Yang: These authors contributed equally to this work. This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. ©2023The Authors. Journal of Extracellular Vesicles published by Wiley Periodicals, LLC on behalf of the International Society for Extracellular Vesicles. J Extracell Vesicles. 2023;12:12300 . [https://doi.org/10.1002/jev2.12300](https://doi.org/10.1002/jev2.12300) [wileyonline

FAQs

Why is early colorectal cancer screening important?

Most CRC cases progress from precursor lesions and often require many years to develop, but current clinical mortality drops when early detection and resection are achieved. Early screening improves the opportunity to detect cancer before advanced stages.

What biomarkers were identified on faeces-derived extracellular vesicles?

The study identified two transmembrane proteins, CD147 and A33, on faeces-derived extracellular vesicles (fEVs). Their levels are associated with CRC.

How did the faecal extracellular vesicle approach compare with CEA and support prognosis tracking?

CD147/A33-enriched EVs showed higher clinical sensitivity (89%) than CEA (40%) for CRC diagnosis. Longitudinal faecal samples were also used to track CRC prognosis during clinical monitoring.

Sep 24, 2026

Uploaded by PakDamar76