DNA Methylation: Biology and Potential Screening Strategies

摘要

Early detection of colorectal cancer is thought to lead to a more favorable clinical outcome. International guidelines support screening for colorectal cancer for age 50 or older in the general population. Available screening techniques include colonoscopy, sigmoidoscopy, fecal occult blood test, double contrast barium enema, and virtual colonoscopy. These screening methods tend to either be costly, invasive, and poorly accepted by the public or lack the diagnostic power to produce a cost-effective, noninvasive, and well-accepted population-based screening program. The blood-based detection of colorectal cancer by blood-based biomarker detection could provide a cost-effective screening test that is well-accepted by the general population and has the potential to be incorporated into annual physical exams.