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Copyright ©The Author(s) 2023. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
World J Gastrointest Oncol. Mar 15, 2023; 15(3): 425-442
Published online Mar 15, 2023. doi: 10.4251/wjgo.v15.i3.425
Molecular methods for colorectal cancer screening: Progress with next-generation sequencing evolution
Salma Abbes, Simone Baldi, Hayet Sellami, Amedeo Amedei, Leila Keskes
Salma Abbes, Laboratory of Parasitic and Fungal Molecular Biology, University of Sfax, Sfax 3029, Tunisia
Simone Baldi, Amedeo Amedei, Department of Experimental and Clinical Medicine, University of Florence, Florence 50134, Italy
Hayet Sellami, Drosophila Research Unit-Parasitology and Mycologie Laboratory, University of Sfax, Sfax 3029, Tunisia
Amedeo Amedei, SOD of Interdisciplinary Internal Medicine, Careggi University Hospital, Florence 50134, Italy
Leila Keskes, Laboratory of Human Molecular Genetic, University of Sfax, Sfax 3029, Tunisia
Author contributions: Abbes S and Baldi B contributed to the conceptualization and revision of the literature; Abbes S contributed to the original draft preparation; Sellami H, Amedei A and Keskes L contributed to critical revision and supervised the manuscript; Abbes S and Baldi S wrote the review and edited; Amedei A and Keskes L contributed to the funding acquisition; All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript.
Supported by MICAfrica Project, which is funded by The European Commission Programme 2020-WIDE SPREAD-05-2020-Twinning Grant Agreement, No. 952583.
Conflict-of-interest statement: All the authors report no relevant conflicts of interest for this article.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (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: https://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Corresponding author: Amedeo Amedei, MSc, Associate Professor, Department of Experimental and Clinical Medicine, University of Florence, Viale G. Pieraccini 6, Florence 50134, Italy. amedeo.amedei@unifi.it
Received: November 30, 2022
Peer-review started: November 30, 2022
First decision: December 9, 2022
Revised: January 2, 2023
Accepted: February 14, 2023
Article in press: February 14, 2023
Published online: March 15, 2023
Processing time: 104 Days and 13.8 Hours
Core Tip

Core Tip: Due to the multitude of host and microbial genetic factors, the optimization of colorectal cancer (CRC) biomarkers remains difficult. The advent of next-generation sequencing (NGS) methods has facilitated the identification of previously unrecognized CRC-related genomic alterations and the CRC relationship with gut microbial composition. Hence, we have summarized the diagnostic tools used for CRC screening in the past and the present, focusing on the revolutionary role of NGS approaches in the identification of novel genomic CRC characteristics, the advancement of understanding the CRC carcinogenesis and the screening of clinically actionable targets for personalized medicine.