Objective： To search for a biomarker for colorectal cancer. Methods： The MSP, SSCP and deletion tests with serum have been taken simultaneously in 100 cases of colorectal cancer and 2 groups of controls, as well as the specimens of 26 cancer tissues and 22 paracancerous tissues and 29 cases of benign disease tissues for a contrast. Results： The aberrant methylation rate of P16 in the serum was 69.00%, deletion rate 4.00% and suspicious point mutation rate 15.00% in colorectal cancer patients. The data of cancer tissues were the same as those of the serum, but in paracancerous tissue those were significantly lower. In 10 cases, sequencing analysis revealed that there were 3 cases of missense, one case of frameshift and one case of nonsense. Among them, four cases had P16 protein deletion. As a tumor marker, the sensitivity of combined use of three methods was 88.00%, specificity 96.87% and accuracy 90.15%. The combined use of MSP and SSCP could obtain the same results. Conclusion： The content of DNA in serum is minimal, but it reflects the tumor burden of patients. The 10^-3 fragments of DNA could be detected in the serum by MSP. It can be used in the clinical diagnosis or popular investigation, and long-term postoperative follow-up.
