Gastrointestinal (GI) cancer groups the cancers that affect the digestive system, being colorectum, stomach, and pancreas the most relevant types according to i) incidence, ii) inheritance, iii) their high impact on therapeutics, as target for a high number of trial drugs, and iv) latest advances in somatic-germline association studies (used as “cancer models”).

Although the incidence of some GI cancer types has decreased, this group of malignancies continues to pose major challenges to public health. According to GLOBOCAN 2020 data, GI cancers account for 32.8% of the global cancer incidence and 40.6% of all cancer-related deaths. Given the trend in recent years, global burden for GI cancers is expected to rise to 47% by 2040. Early GI cancer detection is a hallmark for a successful treatment, unfortunately, most cases are diagnosed at an advanced stage when the prognosis is poor, and the treatment options are limited.

Our understanding of cancer genetics and the omics has been greatly enhanced by the overwhelming revolution in sequencing technology in recent years. Comprehensive studies, including analyses of the genome, methylome, proteome and transcriptome, enables us to expand our understanding of the molecular pathogenesis of GI cancers.

Recent implementation of these advances in clinical oncology greatly improved the molecular diagnostic and clinical follow up of cancer patients as well as prevention and therapeutic decisions. Beside disease management and treatment, there is great potential for genetic counseling and risk assessment, especially for inherited cancers. However, as the quantity and complexity of molecular and genetic information increase, the gap between scientific advancements and clinical application rises as well. This translation of basis science research from the bench to clinical -daily practices- implementation at the bedside, is currently recognized as one of the major challenges in molecular and genomic medicine, notably in oncology, and particularly for GI -hereditary- cancers due to the significant impact on the population.

This Research Topic focuses on advances in genetic predisposition, novel biomarkers, genome methylation and molecular diagnosis on a set of GI cancers. specifically colorectum, stomach, and pancreatic cancer. With this collection of articles, we aim to provide the progress and emerging genetic, genomic, and molecular findings for GI cancers, and to resume their clinical utility to improve the diagnosis and treatment of these malignancies; as well as the early identification of individuals at risk for them. We also call for articles to discuss the utility of patient molecular profiling to predict the efficacy of drug therapies and to classify, definitively diagnose, and predict the prognosis of this set of GI cancers.

We welcome submissions of Review, Mini Review, and Original Research, which will lead to insights and further understanding into, but not limited to, all the above topics for GI cancers. This is in both high- and low-income areas.

Manuscripts consisting solely of bioinformatics, computational analysis, or predictions of public databases which are not accompanied by validation (independent cohort or biological validation in vitro or in vivo) will not be accepted in Frontiers in Oncology.

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