Patent ID: 7374886

Claim:
A method for determining whether an individual is likely to have recurrent colorectal cancer, colorectal minimal residual cancer disease or a combination of recurrent colorectal cancer and colorectal minimal residual cancer disease, after being treated for the primary colorectal cancer, the method comprising: a) determining a total concentration of TIMP-1 in a plasma sample obtained post-operatively from said individual; b) constructing a percentile plot of total concentrations of TIMP-1 in plasma obtained from a non-colorectal cancer population; c) constructing a ROC (receiver operating characteristics) curve based on total concentrations of TIMP-1 in plasma determined in a non-colorectal cancer population and on total concentrations of TIMP-1 in plasma determined in a population with known recurrent colorectal cancer, colorectal minimal residual cancer disease or a combination of recurrent colorectal cancer and colorectal minimal residual cancer disease; d) selecting a desired sensitivity; e) determining from the ROC curve the specificity corresponding to the desired sensitivity; f) determining from the percentile plot the total concentration of TIMP-1 in plasma value corresponding to the determined specificity; and g) indicating the individual as likely to have recurrent colorectal cancer, colorectal minimal residual cancer disease or a combination of recurrent colorectal cancer and colorectal minimal residual cancer disease if the post-operative total concentration of TIMP-1 in the plasma sample of the individual is equal to or higher than said total concentration of TIMP-1 in plasma value corresponding to the determined specificity and indicating the individual as unlikely to have recurrent colorectal cancer, colorectal minimal residual cancer disease or a combination of recurrent colorectal cancer and colorectal minimal residual cancer disease if the post-operative total concentration of TIMP-1 in the plasma sample of the individual is lower than said total concentration of TIMP-1 in plasma value corresponding to the determined specificity.