New insights into colorectal cancer screening and early detection tests

Abstract

Colorectal cancer (CRC) is a common cancer in both men and women worldwide. Creating a diagnostic panel is necessary for early diagnosis which could lead to a better long-term survival in cancer patients. Colonoscopy every 10 years, starting at age 50, is the preferred CRC screening test. Many studies have been worked on potential diagnostic biomarkers of CRC. In this article, we described the recent evolutions in the development of CRC noninvasive screening assays. Recently, a multifunctional fecal DNA test has been available commercially in the USA. A few other US FDA-approved tests like Epi proColon^® (Epigenomics AG, Berlin, Germany) are also available now. Although a new marker class for fecal occult blood test, a novel biomarker based on fecal bacteria in CRC patients and circulating tumor cells are under investigation, there is still a strong need to do more research for CRC screening strategies.

Keywords::

• colorectal cancer
• early detection
• screening

Financial & competing interests disclosure

The authors would like to give special thanks and acknowledgement to our funder, Vice Chancellor of Research (Grant No. 940359), Mashhad University of Medical Sciences, Mashhad, Iran.  The authors have no other relevant affiliations or financial involvement with any organization or entity with a financial interest in or financial conflict with the subject matter or materials discussed in the manuscript apart from those disclosed.

No writing assistance was utilized in the production of this manuscript.

Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thanks E Pouladin, N Shalchi and Reza Radiotherapy and Oncology Charity Center for their close support in CRC research programs.