Dermokine as a novel biomarker for early-stage colorectal cancer

Background Colorectal cancer is a common disease that is usually detected at an advanced stage, because early-stage cancer is mostly asymptomatic and appropriate serologic biomarkers have not been established. We have previously identified dermokine (DK) as a peptide secreted by keratinocytes and we found that DK-β/γ was expressed in colorectal tumors. Therefore, we focused on DK-β/γ as a new candidate diagnostic serum marker for early colorectal cancer.