A simplified multitarget stool test for colorectal cancer and advanced precancerous lesion detection

OBJECTIVES: ) DNA methylation markers with a simple calling algorithm. METHODS: were performed for each participant. A score of either 0, 1 or 2 was assigned to each marker as negative, weak positive and positive. A positive test score was called when the score sum for the three biomarkers was at least 2. RESULTS: as their levels were positively correlated with age. Sensitivities with the multitarget stool test for CRC and APL were 90.0 % and 65.2 %, respectively, while specificities for participants with negative colonoscopy and absent of advanced neoplasia were 91.0 % and 90.9 %, respectively. We observed a general decline in specificity with more advanced age, which was significantly mitigated by the age-dependent cut-off values. CONCLUSIONS: The simplified multitarget stool test utilizing age-dependent cut-off values demonstrated promising performance for CRC screening across age groups in the Chinese population.