Wastewater Surveillance Can Track Potential Colorectal Cancer Burden

WEDNESDAY, March 18, 2026 (HealthDay News) -- Wastewater-based epidemiology is feasible as a community-level and population-level surveillance tool for colorectal cancer (CRC), according to a study published online March 17 in the Journal of Epidemiology & Community Health.Elizabeth Wurtzler, Ph.D., from Geneoscopy Inc. in St. Louis, and colleagues present feasibility data to demonstrate the detection of CRC-associated RNA biomarkers in community wastewater. Droplet digital polymerase chain reaction was used to quantify RNA expression values for GAPDH (housekeeping marker) and CDH1 (colorectal neoplasia-associated marker). Elevated expression of the CDH1 region, which is associated with colorectal neoplasia, was assessed in the study, representing overall CDH1 concentration in wastewater samples. The study assessed four neighborhood clusters: three CRC clusters and one control region.The researchers found the average normalized colorectal neoplasia-associated RNA markers (CDH1/GAPDH) to be 20.0, 2.2, and 4.0 for CRC clusters 1, 2, and 3, respectively; for control cluster 1, the average normalized colorectal neoplasia-associated RNA markers were 2.6."This basic proof-of-concept for a novel wastewater surveillance application to track potential cancer burden demonstrates that CDH1, which is associated with CRC, is detectable in wastewater and may accelerate the field's development for epidemiological studies," the authors write. "The finding that CDH1 is detected is promising and needs an expanded research agenda and larger sample size for statistical power to enable more definitive findings."Several authors disclosed ties to Geneoscopy.Abstract/Full Text.Sign up for our weekly HealthDay newsletter

Wastewater Surveillance Can Track Potential Colorectal Cancer Burden

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