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Updated: Feb 7, 2026

Kinetic Screening of Nuclease Activity using Nucleic Acid Probes
Published on: November 1, 2019
Secretory acid sphingomyelinase activity is elevated in persons with colorectal neoplasia
Background:
Metabolomic changes related to colorectal cancer (CRC) may serve as diagnostic markers to identify patients may develop or have developed CRC.
Methods:
Untargeted lipidomics were performed on serum from CRC cases and clean-colon controls from the Chicago Colorectal Cancer Consortium (CCCC) and the University of Arizona Cancer Center (UACC).
Results:
Untargeted lipidomics in the CCCC CRC series revealed significant alterations in sphingolipids. Targeted lipidomics revealed a signature of five sphingomyelins (SMs) were significantly decreased in CRC patients in CCCC and UACC CRC series. Circulating SMs are degraded primarily by S-SMase and serum S-SMase activity was significantly higher in UACC cases as compared to controls. Serum S-SMase activity was also measured in two series of adenoma patients to determine if S-SMase may serve as a biomarker for development of colorectal neoplasia. While S-SMase activity was significantly higher in adenoma patients compared to controls in the mostly white UACC series, S-SMase activity in samples from the Chicago Black series (CCCC) were indistinguishable from each other and significantly higher than UACC controls.
Conclusions:
Together, these studies suggest the potential for S-SMase activity to serve as a biomarker for colorectal neoplasia, with potential implications in some but perhaps not all populations.
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