Hyderabad: Colorectal cancer in Indian patients may be driven by molecular changes that differ from those commonly seen in Western populations, suggesting that cancer markers and treatment targets identified in global studies may not fully explain the disease in Indian patients, a research from Osmania University and AIG Hospitals has found.
The study won the first prize in the Luminal category of the Young Investigator Awards at the World Congress of Gastroenterology 2026 held in New Delhi recently.
The study, titled “Indian Ethnicity-Specific Multi-Omic Landscape of Colorectal Cancer: Novel Signatures, Drivers, and Therapeutic Targets,” was led by OU PhD scholar Anil Vashapaka, associated with the Asian Healthcare Foundation (AHF), the research wing of AIG Hospitals.
The study combined two types of information – changes in patients’ DNA and information on which genes were active – and compared the findings with global colorectal cancer datasets. The team used next-generation sequencing and bioinformatics to identify and analyse these molecular changes. The findings could eventually help researchers identify markers that indicate how a tumour may behave and explore potential treatment targets specific to molecular patterns seen in Indian patients. However, the study does not establish a new treatment or diagnostic test. The research was conducted under the guidance of Dr VV Ravikanth, Genomics and Sequencing Lab, AHF, and Dr K Srinivas Naik, Centre for Plant Molecular Biology at OU, with clinical and scientific support from Dr D Nageshwar Reddy, Dr GV Rao, Dr M Sasikala and Dr VV Ravikanth. You Can Also Check: Gold Rate in Hyderabad | Silver Rate in Hyderabad | Bank Holidays in Hyderabad | Public Holidays in Hyderabad | Hyderabad AQI | Weather in Hyderabad | Petrol Price in Hyderabad | Diesel Price in Hyderabad | CNG Price in Hyderabad | LPG Price in Hyderabad