Colorectal cancer: Genetic alterations, novel biomarkers, current therapeutic strategies and clinical trials

Colorectal cancer (CRC) is the third most commonly detected cancer with a serious global health issue. The rates for incidence and mortality for CRC are alarming, especially since the prognosis is abysmal when the CRC is diagnosed at an advanced or metastatic stage. Both type of (modifiable/ non-modifiable) types of risk factors are established for CRC. Despite the advances in recent technology and sophisticated research, the survival rate is still meager due to delays in diagnosis. Therefore, there is urgently required to identify critical biomarkers aiming at early diagnosis and improving effective therapeutic strategies. Additionally, a complete understanding of the dysregulated pathways like PI3K/Akt, Notch, and Wnt associated with CRC progression and metastasis is very beneficial in designing a therapeutic regimen. This review article focused on the dysregulated signaling pathways, genetics and epigenetics alterations, and crucial biomarkers of CRC. This review also provided the list of clinical trials targeting signaling cascades and therapies involving small molecules. This review discusses up-to-date information on novel diagnostic and therapeutic strategies alongside specific clinical trials.

Top Alzheimer's disease risk allele frequencies differ in HABS-HD Mexican- versus Non-Hispanic White Americans

INTRODUCTION: Here we evaluate frequencies of the top 10 Alzheimer's disease (AD) risk alleles for late-onset AD in Mexican American (MA) and non-Hispanic White (NHW) American participants enrolled in the Health and Aging Brain Study-Health Disparities Study cohort. METHODS: Using DNA extracted from this community-based diverse population, we calculated the genotype frequencies in each population to determine whether a significant difference is detected between the different ethnicities. DNA genotyping was performed per manufacturers' protocols. RESULTS: Allele and genotype frequencies for 9 of the 11 single nucleotide polymorphisms (two apolipoprotein E variants, CR1, BIN1, DRB1, NYAP1, PTK2B, FERMT2, and ABCA7) differed significantly between MAs and NHWs. DISCUSSION: The significant differences in frequencies of top AD risk alleles observed here across MAs and NHWs suggest that ethnicity-specific genetic risks for AD exist. Given our results, we are advancing additional projects to further elucidate ethnicity-specific differences in AD.