Development of novel diagnostic and prognostic molecular markers for sporadic colon cancer.

Gene expression studies are informative about changes in colon cancer, increase understanding of the biology of tumorigenesis and aid in developing diagnostic and prognostic markers. In this review, expression techniques used to examine the multistage process of colon cancer are discussed. Many genes have been found to differ in expression between normal and tumorigenic states, as early as the seemingly normal colonic crypts. The clinical usefulness of markers varies with stage, ethnicity and anatomic location of colon cancer. Thus, combinations of markers can be used to develop an approach to molecularly screen and follow the progression of this prevalent cancer.