Affiliations: [a] Department of Pediatrics, Stanford University School of Medicine, Stanford, CA, USA | [b] Division of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, University of Michigan School of Medicine, Ann Arbor, MI, USA
Correspondence:
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Corresponding author: Thomas Wang, MD, PhD, Division of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, University of Michigan School of Medicine, 109 Zina Pitcher Place, BSRB 1522, Ann Arbor, MI 48109, USA. E-mail: thomaswa@umich.edu.
Abstract: Colorectal carcinoma continues to be a leading cause of cancer morbidity and mortality despite widespread adoption of screening methods. Targeted detection and therapy using recent advances in our knowledge of in vivo cancer biomarkers promise to significantly improve methods for early detection, risk stratification, and therapeutic intervention. The behavior of molecular targets in transformed tissues is being comprehensively assessed using new techniques of gene expression profiling and high throughput analyses. The identification of promising targets is stimulating the development of novel molecular probes, including significant progress in the field of activatable and peptide probes. These probes are being evaluated in small animal models of colorectal neoplasia and recently in the clinic. Furthermore, innovations in optical imaging instrumentation are resulting in the scaling down of size for endoscope compatibility. Advances in target identification, probe development, and novel instruments are progressing rapidly, and the integration of these technologies has a promising future in molecular medicine.
