GUWAHATI
A team of scientists led by researchers from Assam’s Tezpur University has identified distinct chemical signatures in blood, offering fresh hope in the early detection of one of the deadliest and often undetected cancers in India.
The scientists who studied patients from Assam, a part of the Northeastern region with one of the highest rates of gallbladder cancer (GBC), found that simple blood tests may one day help doctors identify the cancer much earlier than is currently possible.
Assistant professor Pankaj Barah and research scholar Cinmoyee Baruah of Tezpur University’s Department of Molecular Biology and Biotechnology are the lead authors of the study published in the latest issue of the Journal of Proteome Research of the American Chemical Society.
The other members of the interdisciplinary team are Amit Rai of Carl R. Woese Institute for Genomic Biology, the U.S.; Anupam Sarma of Bhubaneswar Barooah Cancer Institute, Guwahati; Gayatri Gogoi, Uttam Konwar, and Utpal Dutta of Assam Medical College and Hospital, Dibrugarh; Subhash Khanna of Swagat Super Speciality and Surgical Hospital, Guwahati; and Sheelendra P. Singh of CSIR–Indian Institute of Toxicology Research, Lucknow.
High mortality rates
GBC, a rare but highly aggressive malignancy, is the sixth-most common hepatobiliary cancer, with high mortality rates and a five-year survival of less than 10%. It shows unusual geographical heterogeneity, with the highest incidences from three countries in South America and four in Asia, including India and Japan.
According to the study, GBC is a leading cause of death in these regions, affecting females twice as much as males. It is the third-most common cancer in Northeastern India.
A difficult diagnosis
Although gallstone disease is common, only about one in every hundred patients goes on to develop gallbladder cancer. Yet, nearly 90% of cancer patients have a history of gallstones, long confusing doctors.
The disease is notorious for its silent progression, and most patients are diagnosed after the disease has spread. The situation is made worse because its symptoms often resemble common gallstone problems, such as stomach pain or indigestion.
In the study, the researchers compared blood samples from three groups of people: those with gallbladder cancer without stones, those with cancer along with gallstones, and those who had gallstones but no cancer. They aimed to find chemical ‘fingerprints’ in the blood that could clearly tell these groups apart.
“Our findings show that changes in metabolites can clearly distinguish gallbladder cancer cases with and without gallstones. This raises the possibility of developing simple blood-based tests that could help in earlier detection,” Dr. Barah said.
“By linking tissue pathology with blood metabolomics, this research bridges the gap between laboratory discoveries and clinical diagnosis,” Dr. Gogoi, a pathologist, said.
Bile and digestion
The researchers found that certain natural substances linked to bile, digestion, and energy use were present in much higher amounts in cancer patients than in those with gallstones alone. Bile helps digest food, but when its balance is disturbed over a long period, it can damage the gallbladder lining and possibly trigger cancer.
The study also found changes in substances related to protein breakdown and sugar use, suggesting that cancer cells rewire the body’s normal processes to fuel their growth. Importantly, some of these changes were common to all gallbladder cancer patients, while others were unique to those who also had gallstones.
“This means gallbladder cancer with stones and without stones may look similar under a microscope, but they behave differently inside the body,” the study noted.
Timely surgery possible
The most significant promise of the study is in improving diagnosis. “The identification of blood-based metabolic markers provides a practical pathway towards early diagnosis and informed clinical decision-making,” Dr. Khanna, a gastrointestinal surgeon, said.
Several blood markers identified by the team were able to distinguish cancer patients from gallstone patients with very high accuracy. To put it simply, these markers worked almost like warning lights, switching on when cancer was present.
The researchers said that this approach, if confirmed in larger studies, could help doctors identify gallstone patients who are at high risk of developing cancer, long before symptoms become severe.
That could make timely surgery possible and save lives, they believed.
Published – January 09, 2026 07:13 pm IST
