Colorectal cancer screening: past, present and future

The article considers the evolution of primary diagnosis of colorectal cancer (CRC): from x-ray method - to endoscopy and examination of feces for hidden blood, and then to molecular genetic studies of colonocytes, i.e., detection of tumor-specific DNA modifications and evaluation of gene expression based on the determination of their mRNA in cells of the colon mucosa. As an example, we presented the results of our own research, reflecting the possibility of detecting the pre- morphological stages of carcinogenesis in the organ, based on the determination of the expression profile of a number of genes in the colon mucosa without morphological signs of tumor growth in patients with histologically verified CRR.