The Pivotal Player: Components of NF-κB Pathway as Promising Biomarkers in Colorectal Cancer

Abstract

Over the last several decades, colorectal cancer (CRC) has been one of the most prevalent cancers. While significant progress has been made in both diagnostic screening and therapeutic approaches, a large knowledge gap still remains regarding the early identification and treatment of CRC. Specifically, identification of CRC biomarkers that can help with the creation of targeted therapies as well as increasing the ability for clinicians to predict the biological response of a patient to therapeutics, is of particular importance. This review provides an overview of CRC and its progression stages, as well as the basic types of CRC biomarkers. We then lay out the synopsis of signaling pathways related to CRC, and further highlight the pivotal and multifaceted role of nuclear factor (NF) κB signaling in CRC. Particularly, we bring forth knowledge regarding the tumor microenvironment (TME) in CRC, and its complex interaction with cancer cells. We also provide examples of NF-κB signaling-related CRC biomarkers, and ongoing efforts made at targeting NF-κB signaling in CRC treatment. We conclude and anticipate that with more emerging novel regulators of the NF-κB pathway being discovered, together with their in-depth characterization and the integration of large groups of genomic, transcriptomic and proteomic data, the day of successful development of more ideal NF-κB inhibitors is fast approaching.