To BE or not to BE: non-invasive screening for Barrett’s esophagus, dysplasia and adenocarcinoma

The EsophaCap™ DNA methylation biomarker validation study by Wang, Kambhampati and colleagues (1) follows a spade of reports (summarized in Table 1) aiming to develop screening tests for Barrett’s esophagus (BE). BE is a non-malignant metaplastic condition with little or no clinical symptoms. Arguably, the main importance of diagnosing BE is the increased risk of the patient to progress to esophageal adenocarcinoma (EAC).