Worldwide, colorectal cancer is the third most common type of cancer, but is the second most common cause of death from cancer, with survival rates ranging from 62% in the U.S. to just 43% in Europe. Like with many forms of cancer, earlier diagnosis leads to better survival, and access to more accurate tests will make this possible. A team of researchers from across Spain has created a DNA chip that has potential to diagnose colon cancer with high accuracy, with results published in BMC Cancer. The researchers created gene expression profiles from 31 tumor samples from different stages of the disease and 33 samples of normal tissue, creating a panel of 7 genes. The next step is to test this panel on samples from 200 and then 7,000 people with and without colorectal cancer. Press release | Abstract