Analytic methods for colorectal cancer

Colorectal cancer (CRC) is a major cause of morbidity and mortality from cancers in the United States. The field of molecular epidemiology is in the forefront in the discovery of genes associated with the development and progression of complex diseases such as CRC, including hereditary CRC, and polyposis syndromes such as familial adenomatous polyposis and hereditary nonpolyposis colon cancer. Recent advances in laboratory methods (ie, high-throughput genotyping and high-density single nucleotide polymorphism chips, etc.) allow the molecular epidemiologist to elucidate biological determinates of disease. However, with these advancements in the lab, advances in modeling and testing of such data are needed as well. Herein, we review the current analytical methods that have been applied to molecular epidemiologic studies for CRC and hereditary nonpolyposis colon cancer within the past 2 years, comment on the application of these methods, and examine new and promising tools that will likely influence the discovery of gene-gene and gene-environment interactions and development of pathway-based analytical approaches for CRC risk and progression.