A trial to find out if the MMP9 test can be used as part of screening for bowel cancer

The research team found that the MMP9 test was good, but not accurate enough to be used routinely to diagnose bowel cancer.

This trial recruited 748 people who had been having symptoms that could have been caused by bowel cancer. The symptoms included a change in bowel habit, blood in their stools, weight loss and tiredness.

Everyone taking part had both a colonoscopy and an MMP9 blood test. The colonoscopy results showed that

• 3 people had bowel cancer
• 43 people had polyps with a high risk of developing into bowel cancer
• 165 people had polyps with a low risk of developing into bowel cancer

Polyps are small non cancerous growths that can eventually develop into bowel cancer if they aren’t treated.

When the research team looked at the MMP9 test results, they found that it

• Correctly identified nearly 8 out of 10 people who had cancer or high risk polyps – doctors call this sensitivity
• Correctly identified 7 out of 10 people who didn’t have cancer or high risk polyps – doctors call this specificity

Although these results are good, MMP9 is not quite sensitive or specific enough to be used a test for bowel cancer. The research team suggest that it may help diagnose bowel cancer in the future as one of a group of tests, but that this would need further research.

We have based this summary on information from the team who ran the trial. The information they sent us has been reviewed by independent specialists (peer reviewed ) and published in a medical journal. The figures we quote above were provided by the trial team. We have not analysed the data ourselves.