Gastrointestinal cancer research in the era of precision medicine

In the new era of precision medicine, increasing knowledge of the underlying signaling pathways and molecular defects involved in cancer growth or progression has enabled the discovery of several prognostic and predictive biomarkers. This in turn has led to the development of novel early diagnostic methods, accurate disease classification, therapeutic targets, and personalized therapy. Hence, we summarized the current status of gastrointestinal cancer-related biomarkers and treatment options.Despite the continuous decline in both its incidence and mortality in recent decades, gastric cancer (GC) remains the fifth most prevalent malignancy; furthermore, the prevalence of GC in China is relatively higher than that in other countries. With the development of molecular biological techniques, molecular classifications of GC have emerged, and they show potential value in guiding precise and personalized therapy.11-2