Colorectal cancer in Indians distinct from Westerners, says OU-AIG study | Hyderabad News

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, 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 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 researchers identified mutation patterns that were not seen in global datasets, particularly those from Western populations. They also found that some cancer-driving genes commonly associated with colorectal cancer occurred at lower proportions in their Indian cohort, raising the possibility that other genes may play a greater role in driving the disease among Indian patients.“Some of the mutation patterns we found were not seen in the global datasets when we compared the two, particularly those from Western populations. This suggests that colorectal cancer may have some distinct molecular characteristics in the Indian population,” Anil Vashapaka told TOI.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 researchers also compared molecular findings between patients who survived and those who did not. Some differences were observed among non-survivors, which could eventually help researchers understand why some cancers behave more aggressively.“These findings could potentially help identify patients at risk of severe disease or poorer outcomes, but they need to be validated through further functional studies,” Anil said.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.