Genetic and Epigenetic Traits as Biomarkers in Colorectal Cancer
1
Department of Surgery, Stavanger University Hospital, P O Box 8100, N-4068 Stavanger, Norway
2
Department of Surgical Sciences, University of Bergen, 5021 Bergen, Norway
*
Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Int. J. Mol. Sci. 2011, 12(12), 9426-9439; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijms12129426
Received: 17 October 2011
/
Revised: 28 November 2011
/
Accepted: 7 December 2011
/
Published: 16 December 2011
(This article belongs to the Section Biochemistry)
Colorectal cancer is a major health burden, and a leading cause of cancer-related deaths in industrialized countries. The steady improvements in surgery and chemotherapy have improved survival, but the ability to identify high- and low-risk patients is still somewhat poor. Molecular biology has, over the years, given insight into basic principles of colorectal cancer initiation and development. These findings include aberrations increasing risk of tumor development, genetic changes associated with the stepwise progression of the disease, and errors predicting response to a specific treatment. Potential biomarkers in colorectal cancer are extensively studied, and how the molecular aberrations relate to clinical features. Yet, little of this knowledge has been possible to transfer into clinical practice. In this review, an overview of colorectal cancer genetics will be given, as well as how aberrations found in this tumor type are proposed as biomarkers for risk prediction, as diagnostic tools, for prognosis or prediction of treatment outcome.
View Full-Text
Keywords:
biomarker; colorectal cancer; mutations; epigenetics; microsatellite instability; chromosomal instability; risk marker; diagnostic marker; prognostic marker; predictive marker
▼
Show Figures
Graphical abstract
This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License
- Supplementary File 1:
PDF-Document (PDF, 14 KiB)
MDPI and ACS Style
Berg, M.; Søreide, K. Genetic and Epigenetic Traits as Biomarkers in Colorectal Cancer. Int. J. Mol. Sci. 2011, 12, 9426-9439. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijms12129426
AMA Style
Berg M, Søreide K. Genetic and Epigenetic Traits as Biomarkers in Colorectal Cancer. International Journal of Molecular Sciences. 2011; 12(12):9426-9439. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijms12129426
Chicago/Turabian StyleBerg, Marianne, and Kjetil Søreide. 2011. "Genetic and Epigenetic Traits as Biomarkers in Colorectal Cancer" International Journal of Molecular Sciences 12, no. 12: 9426-9439. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijms12129426
Find Other Styles
