Diagnostic microRNA markers for screening sporadic human colon cancer and active ulcerative colitis in stool and tissue.

Although the expression of some of the miRNA genes tested in tissue showed less variability in CRC or UC patients than in stool, the stool by itself appears well-suited to screening, and a miRNA approach using stool samples promises to offer more sensitivity and specificity than currently used screening genomic, methylomic or proteomic methods for colon cancer.