Dhaliwal A, Vlachostergios PJ, Oikonomou KG, Moshenyat Y. Fecal DNA testing for colorectal cancer screening: Molecular targets and perspectives. World J Gastrointest Oncol 2015; 7(10): 178-183 [PMID: 26483873 DOI: 10.4251/wjgo.v7.i10.178]
Corresponding Author of This Article
Panagiotis J Vlachostergios, MD, PhD, Department of Medicine, NYU Lutheran Medical Center, 150 55th Street, Brooklyn, NY 11220, United States. panagiotis.vlachostergios@nyumc.org
Research Domain of This Article
Gastroenterology & Hepatology
Article-Type of This Article
Topic Highlight
Open-Access Policy of This Article
This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
World J Gastrointest Oncol. Oct 15, 2015; 7(10): 178-183 Published online Oct 15, 2015. doi: 10.4251/wjgo.v7.i10.178
Fecal DNA testing for colorectal cancer screening: Molecular targets and perspectives
Amaninder Dhaliwal, Panagiotis J Vlachostergios, Katerina G Oikonomou, Yitzchak Moshenyat
Amaninder Dhaliwal, Panagiotis J Vlachostergios, Katerina G Oikonomou, Department of Medicine, NYU Lutheran Medical Center, Brooklyn, NY 11220, United States
Yitzchak Moshenyat, Division of Gastroenterology, NYU Lutheran Medical Center, Brooklyn, NY 11220, United States
Author contributions: Dhaliwal A and Vlachostergios PJ contributed equally to this work; Dhaliwal A and Vlachostergios PJ designed research; Dhaliwal A, Vlachostergios PJ and Oikonomou KG performed research and analyzed data; Dhaliwal A and Vlachostergios PJ wrote the paper; and Moshenyat Y revised the paper.
Conflict-of-interest statement: There is no conflict of interest related to this paper.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Correspondence to: Panagiotis J Vlachostergios, MD, PhD, Department of Medicine, NYU Lutheran Medical Center, 150 55th Street, Brooklyn, NY 11220, United States. panagiotis.vlachostergios@nyumc.org
Telephone: +1-718-6306345 Fax: +1-718-2105306
Received: April 28, 2015 Peer-review started: May 7, 2015 First decision: June 2, 2015 Revised: June 17, 2015 Accepted: August 25, 2015 Article in press: August 28, 2015 Published online: October 15, 2015 Processing time: 173 Days and 20.8 Hours
Abstract
The early detection of colorectal cancer with effective screening is essential for reduction of cancer-specific mortality. The addition of fecal DNA testing in the armamentarium of screening methods already in clinical use launches a new era in the noninvasive part of colorectal cancer screening and emanates from a large number of previous and ongoing clinical investigations and technological advancements. In this review, we discuss the molecular rational and most important genetic alterations hallmarking the early colorectal carcinogenesis process. Also, representative DNA targets-markers and key aspects of their testing at the clinical level in comparison or/and association with other screening methods are described. Finally, a critical view of the strengths and limitations of fecal DNA tests is provided, along with anticipated barriers and suggestions for further exploitation of their use.
Core tip: The molecular DNA targets from genetic and epigenetic alterations hallmarking colorectal carcinogenesis are reviewed here in the context of fecal testing. Also, comparison with other screening methods in terms of limitations, advantages and future perspectives of fecal DNA tests are discussed.
