Gastrointestinal (GI) cancers, those of the esophagus, stomach, and colon/rectum, are among the most common cancers worldwide. There are more than 4 million new cases each year, which is more than breast and lung cancer cases combined. Despite extensive efforts to improve treatment including the development of new drugs, the prognosis for advanced stages of GI cancers still remains very poor. The early detection of GI cancers before they metastasize to other organs allows definitive local treatment, resulting in excellent survival rates. A defined role for early-detection approaches currently exists in some cancer types, but each approach test has limitations. Primary prevention and early detection have therefore become a major goal of GI cancer research for many years.

The currently available cancer prevention and early-detection approaches have the potential to reduce a large proportion of the cancer burden in the population. However, even if fully implemented, existing methods cannot fully eliminate the cancer burden. Many factors like inflammation, oxidative stress, or nutritional status may play key roles in the pathogenesis of GI cancer. Thus, the aim of this special issue is to identify new preventive and early-detection approaches that exploit the growing knowledge of molecular and biological mechanisms in GI inflammation and cancers. The special issue welcomes basic science and clinical research on early detection or the underlying molecular mechanisms of GI cancer, as well as review articles describing the current state of GI cancer prevention and early detection.

Potential topics include but are not limited to the following:

• In vivo or in vitro studies related to GI cancers
• Clinical studies in GI cancers
• Early detection, biomarker, and diagnosis of GI cancers
• Oxidative stress, precancerous lesion, or precancerous conditions in the GI tract
• Preventive strategies such as probiotics, prebiotics, synbiotics, natural products, or new drugs to prevent GI inflammation or cancer