Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jul 18, 2026
Evaluation of Colorectal Cancer Risk and Prevalence by Stool DNA Integrity Detection
Published on: June 8, 2020
Colorectal cancer screening by non-invasive metabolic biomarker fecal tumor M2-PK
Carolin Tonus1, Gero Neupert, Markus Sellinger
1Herz-Jesu-Hospital, Surgical Clinic, Buttlarstr. 74, Fulda 36039, Germany. c.tonus@herz-jesu-krankenhaus.de
Aim:
To evaluate the utility of the innovative fecal tumor M2-Pyruvate kinase (M2-PK) test in our daily clinical routine, as a marker for the pre-selection of patients who should subsequently undergo colonoscopy for the diagnosis or exclusion of colorectal cancer.
Methods:
Fecal tumor M2-PK was measured in stool samples of 96 study participants (33 patients with colorectal cancer, 21 patients with rectal carcinoma and 42 controls) who all underwent total colonoscopy.
Results:
In 39 of 42 individuals in the control group, fecal tumor M2-PK was below 4.0 kU/L (93% specificity). Colorectal tumors were accompanied by a highly significant increase (P < 0.001) in fecal tumor M2-PK levels (median: colon carcinoma, 23.1 kU/L; rectal carcinoma, 6.9 kU/L; colorectal carcinoma, 14.7 kU/L), which correlated with Duke's staging and T-classification. The overall sensitivity was 78% for colorectal cancer, increasing from 60% for stage T1 to 100% for stage T4 and from 60% for Duke's A to 90% for Duke's D tumors.
Conclusion:
Fecal tumor M2-PK is an appropriately sensitive tool to pre-select those patients requiring colonoscopy for the further diagnostic confirmation or exclusion of colorectal cancer.
