New non-invasive approaches that can complement and improve on current strategies for colorectal cancer (CRC) screening and management are urgently needed. A growing number of publications have documented that components of tumors, which are shed into the circulation, can be detected in the form of liquid biopsies and can be used to detect CRC at early stages, to predict response to certain therapies and to detect CRC recurrence in a minimally invasive way. The analysis of circulating tumor DNA (ctDNA), tumor-derived cells (CTC, circulating tumor cells) or circulating microRNA (miRNA) in blood and other body fluids, have a great potential to improve different aspects of CRC management. The challenge now is to find which types of components, biofluids and detection methods would be the most suitable to be applied in the different steps of CRC detection and treatment. This chapter will provide an up to date review on ctDNA, CTCs and circulating miRNAs as new biomarkers for CRC, either for clinical management or early detection, highlighting their advantages and limitations.

Department of Clinical Genetics Karolinska University Hospital and Department of Molecular Medicine and Surgery Karolinska Institutet Stockholm Sweden

Department of Molecular Oncology Institute for Cancer Research K G Jebsen Colorectal Cancer Research Centre Oslo University Hospital Norwegian Radium Hospital Oslo Norway

Department of Pathology Netherlands Cancer Institute Amsterdam the Netherlands

Experimental Surgical Oncology General Visceral and Pediatric Surgery University Hospital and Medical Faculty Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf Düsseldorf Germany

Gastrointestinal and Pancreatic Oncology Group Centro de Investigación Biomédica en Red de Enfermedades Hepáticas y Digestivas University of Barcelona Barcelona Spain

Institute of Experimental Medicine of the Czech Academy of Sciences and Institute of Biology and Medical Genetics 1st Medical Faculty Charles University Prague Czech Republic

Institute of Human Genetics Diagnostic and Research Center for Molecular BioMedicine Medical University of Graz and Christian Doppler Laboratory for Liquid Biopsies for early Detection of Cancer Austria

Molecular Oncology Laboratory Hospital Clinico San Carlos IdISSC CIBERONC Madrid Spain

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