Published online Oct 6, 2019. doi: 10.12998/wjcc.v7.i19.2916
Peer-review started: March 22, 2019
First decision: August 1, 2019
Revised: August 22, 2019
Accepted: September 9, 2019
Article in press: September 9, 2019
Published online: October 6, 2019
Colorectal cancer (CRC) remains a major contributor to the number of cancer-related deaths that occur annually worldwide. With the development of molecular biology methods, an increasing number of molecular biomarkers have been identified and investigated. CRC is believed to result from an accumulation of epigenetic changes, and detecting aberrant DNA methylation patterns is useful for both the early diagnosis and prognosis of CRC. Numerous studies are focusing on the development of DNA methylation detection methods or DNA methylation panels. Thus, this review will discuss the commonly used techniques and technologies to evaluate DNA methylation, their merits and deficiencies as well as the prospects for new methods.
Core tip: We screened the literature on the application of DNA methylation detection technologies as well as colorectal cancer (CRC) associated DNA methylation markers in the diagnosis or prognosis evaluation of CRC. Apart from introducing each method in detail and describing the methylation status of several candidate genes being assayed, we also evaluated the advantages or disadvantages of each method. More importantly, we discuss the new DNA methylation detection methods and their potential use. At last, we prospect on how these methylation markers could be used and what kind of methylation detection techniques might be more practical in clinical work.