Aside from lung cancer, which has an avoidable environmental cause, colorectal cancer (CRC) is responsible for more deaths than any other malignancy in Western countries. Indeed, this neoplasm is the second most common cancer in Europe when both genders are considered together. Also taking into account both genders, CRC ranks second after lung cancer as a cause of cancer related death. Worldwide, 1 million people each year develop CRC and the incidence of this tumor is increasing.
CRC is a high-prevalence disease which continues to have relatively high mortality and no simple avoidable cause. CRC is preventable by detecting and removing adenomas using sigmoidoscopy or colonoscopy screening. Due to the invasive nature and cost of endoscoppy, intermediate screening methods, such as FOBT, are used to select patients for colonoscopy. However, there is a need to identify CRC biomarkers that will improve screening, early detection and disease follow-up, and allow for more accurate tumor profiling. This will allow us to work towards the goal of state-of-the-art functional characterization of genetic variants and new therapy approaches for this disease.
This Research Topic in Frontiers in Genetics will include research articles describing work using innovative translational research to identify colorectal cancer biomarkers for personalized medicine that will improve screening, early detection and disease follow-up, and attain better tumor profiling, state-of-the-art functional characterization of genetic variants and new therapy approaches.
Bioinformatic studies are welcome, however, these should not be based solely on analysis of publicly available datasets such as TCGA. It is essential to have an independent validation cohort for statistically significant confirmation of the findings communicated.
Aside from lung cancer, which has an avoidable environmental cause, colorectal cancer (CRC) is responsible for more deaths than any other malignancy in Western countries. Indeed, this neoplasm is the second most common cancer in Europe when both genders are considered together. Also taking into account both genders, CRC ranks second after lung cancer as a cause of cancer related death. Worldwide, 1 million people each year develop CRC and the incidence of this tumor is increasing.
CRC is a high-prevalence disease which continues to have relatively high mortality and no simple avoidable cause. CRC is preventable by detecting and removing adenomas using sigmoidoscopy or colonoscopy screening. Due to the invasive nature and cost of endoscoppy, intermediate screening methods, such as FOBT, are used to select patients for colonoscopy. However, there is a need to identify CRC biomarkers that will improve screening, early detection and disease follow-up, and allow for more accurate tumor profiling. This will allow us to work towards the goal of state-of-the-art functional characterization of genetic variants and new therapy approaches for this disease.
This Research Topic in Frontiers in Genetics will include research articles describing work using innovative translational research to identify colorectal cancer biomarkers for personalized medicine that will improve screening, early detection and disease follow-up, and attain better tumor profiling, state-of-the-art functional characterization of genetic variants and new therapy approaches.
Bioinformatic studies are welcome, however, these should not be based solely on analysis of publicly available datasets such as TCGA. It is essential to have an independent validation cohort for statistically significant confirmation of the findings communicated.