Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
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Query: UMLS:C0033036 (APC)
 10,214 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

As a signaling protein in the Wnt pathway beta-catenin plays a crucial role in the regulation of cellular proliferation. Recently, oncogenic beta-catenin mutations were described in human colorectal cancer and melanoma cell lines. Since activating mutations in the beta-catenin gene have similar effects on the biochemical level as inactivating mutations in the tumor suppressor gene APC, it is speculated that beta-catenin mutations may substitute APC gene inactivation in carcinogenesis. To address this question we analyzed twenty-three sporadic colorectal tumors of different progression states for mutations in the beta-catenin gene. Eighteen of these tumors showed the wildtype APC gene sequence. In only one of the tumors with wildtype APC a beta-catenin gene mutation was found. This tumor was of the RER (replication error) phenotype which may explain the finding that the mutation occurred in a sequential repeat motif of the beta-catenin gene. The second aim of this study was to investigate whether differences in the phenotypic variability in FAP (familial adenomatous polyposis coli) might be due to inherited alterations in the beta-catenin gene. For this we analyzed DNA from fourteen FAP patients from eight different families for germline mutations in the beta-catenin gene. We did not find any beta-catenin gene alteration in these samples. Our results indicate that somatic beta-catenin activating mutations contribute only to a minor part of human colorectal tumors and that germline beta-catenin mutations do not play a role in the variability of symptoms in FAP.
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PMID:A beta-catenin mutation in a sporadic colorectal tumor of the RER phenotype and absence of beta-catenin germline mutations in FAP patients. 959 32

The colon carcinogenic process is believed to begin with both genetic and morphological alterations in a few individual crypts. These select crypts, called aberrant crypt foci (ACF), are widely agreed upon as precursors of colon cancer. The ACF assay involves testing potential chemopreventive agents by counting the number of ACF in a carcinogen-treated colon. This assay has the advantage of not only being less expensive and time-consuming than tumor-producing studies, but will also allow the elucidation of the colon carcinogenic process by letting the researcher explore the changes that occur at a pre-cancerous stage. The ACF assay has been used most frequently in rodent models. In the rodent colon, ACF are easy to distinguish due to their distinct morphological, histological, and biological characteristics. In addition, the ACF assay has been used to look at specific genetic alterations in the crypts such as K-ras, p53, and APC mutations. Our laboratory has consistently used the ACF assay to test many potential chemopreventive agents using rats induced by the colon carcinogen azoxymethane (AOM). Potential chemopreventive agents have been tested in both the initiation or the post-initiation period Research supports the notion that aberrant crypt foci represent a true neoplastic lesion for colon cancer. By studying these lesions both grossly and genetically it may be possible to learn more about the causes of colon carcinogenesis. In addition, by testing new compounds through the ACF assay, it is possible not only to discover potentially new chemopreventive compounds, but also to discover the mechanisms behind them. Because of this, the ACF assay is an invaluable method that will help reveal the process of colon carcinogenesis.
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PMID:Inhibition of aberrant crypt foci by chemopreventive agents. 962 97

p53 gene mutation (exon4, 5, 6, 7, 8 and intron6) in gastric cancer and precancerous lesions and p53 gene (exon4 and ontron6), APC gene deletion in gastric carcinomas were studied by PCR/SSCP and PCR/RFLP. Results showed mutation rate of p53 in metaplasia, dysplasia and gastric carcinoma was 37.5% (3/8), 42.17% (8/19), 53.33 (16/30) respectively. There was significant difference among groups of metaplasia, dysplasia, cancer and normal controls. No exon8 mutation was found in metaplasia and dysplasia, but 4 cases were found to have exon8 mutation in cancer group. It is suggested that exon8 mutation occurs at the late stage of gastric cancer, but exon 5, 6, 7 mutation occur in the course of precancerous lesion to cancer. Loss of heterozygosity (LOH) of exon4, intron6, APC was 47, 37% (9/19), 8.73% (2/23), 16.67% (3/18) respectively. LOH of exon4 had something to do with poor differentiation, lymph node metastasis, depth of invasion. LOH of exon4 may be of prognostic marker of gastric cancer. We are led to conclude that p53 gene mutation is an early event and perhaps work together with ras oncogene in gastric carcinogenesis.
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PMID:Abnormal change of p53 gene in gastric and precancerous lesions and APC gene deletion in gastric carcinoma and near tissues. 963 93

We have extended the algebraic models for cancer initiation and progression developed by Nordling, Armitage-Doll and Knudson-Moolgavkar to include the effect of cell turnover rate in normal tissue, stochastic growth of preneoplastic adenomas, and the general case wherein a subfraction of the population is at risk. We have also gathered the mortality data available for the United States from 1900 to 1991 and categorically organized them by birth year cohorts and age specific death rates for ages 0 to 104 in 5-year groupings. Using these data, we first explored the quantitative nature of the biases of underreporting or misdiagnosis as historical age-dependent functions. Then we used the extended algebraic model to calculate the parameters of subpopulation fraction at risk, mutation rates and adenoma growth rates. We observe that death rates for all cancers are low in childhood and early adulthood, rise in middle age in an approximately linear manner, reach a maximum in old age, and even after correction for reporting bias, decrease markedly in extreme old age. We represent this behavior as the natural result of a continuous process of cell division, death and mutation within a subpopulation at risk. This population at risk within any birth cohort is defined by the product of a constant inherited risk factor multiplied by a historically valuable environmental risk factor. Our formulation permits explicit calculation of the fraction at risk of death from any cancer as a historical function. With regard to the algebraic description of the process of carcinogenesis, we use Nordling's concept that n genetic events in a cell population of constant cell number are required to initiate a colony capable of net cell growth or 'adenoma.' We adopt and extend Moolgavkar's use of the 'Gambler's Ruin' stochastic process to describe the probability of adenoma survival and the canonical expectation that a surviving adenoma will soon contain many initiated cells by virtue of stochastic distribution of surviving cells. We consider that within the growing adenoma, it is necessary for a cell to acquire m additional mutations in order to attain the carcinoma phenotype of cell growth rapid enough to kill in a short time. This would be irrespective of the need for any additional genetic events that may define the subsequent phenotypes of large lethal tumors, as these would be automatically acquired and be physiologically selected in any rapidly growing cell mass. It is evident that the steps of initiation and progression are dependent on both the rates of genetic change per cell division and the cell kinetic rates of division and death. We have chosen to first examine colon cancer because the rates of cell division in normal colonic epithelium, dysplastic adenomas and small carcinomas have been directly observed as reported herein. For colon cancer, we calculate that about 65% of the US population is at risk for both males and females, and that this fraction has been constant for the earliest recorded birth cohorts of the mid-19th century to the beginning of the 20th century. The changes that have been observed in colon cancer mortality rates appear to arise from historical changes in death rates by unknown 'other causes of death', which share both genetic and environmental risk factors with colon cancer and explicitly include undiagnosed deaths by colon cancer. Considering all possible values of n and m, we find the case of n=2 and m=1 to give the best concordance with present knowledge of mutations in the colon by the loss of two alleles of the APC gene and the observation that for m=1, a rate of genetic change approximately equal to that calculated for initiation mutation rates is obtained. Our estimates for the rate of initiation and progression mutation rates show no significant historical shifts and are approximately 1-2x10-7 events per cell division. (ABSTRACT TRUNCATED)
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PMID:Mutation, cell kinetics, and subpopulations at risk for colon cancer in the United States. 968 10

Subsets of patients with common cancers belong to families in which the predisposition is inherited in a regular Mendelian fashion. Genes underlying these cancers are now recognized in colorectal cancer (APC, mismatch repair genes, LKB1) and in breast cancer (BRCA1, BRCA2) whereas, in prostate cancer, a locus in chromosome 1 (HPC1) has been proposed on the basis of linkage analysis. Major challenges are to determine the population incidence of these mutations, their penetrance, phenotypic expression, and the effects of modifier genes and epigenetic factors. Finally, the role of encoded proteins in carcinogenesis is a matter of major interest.
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PMID:The genetics of hereditary common cancers. 969 Sep 90

Colorectal carcinogenesis is widely thought to follow the adenoma-adenocarcinoma sequence. However, there are two morphologically distinct subtypes of colorectal cancer (CRC), polypoid and ulcerative. We conducted a comparative study to clarify whether different combinations of some commonly involved genetic alterations (including mutations in K-ras, p53, DCC, APC, and Rb genes) may exist between polypoid- and ulcerative-type CRCs, the two morphologically distinct types of CRC. By using PCR-based RFLP, single-strand conformational polymorphism, and loss of heterozygosity analysis, we found that K-ras codon 12 mutation was preferentially involved in polypoid tumor (P < 0.0001). There were no other significant correlations with p53 point mutation or loss of heterozygosity in chromosomes 5q, 17p, and 18q and Rb gene, which have been suggested to be involved in the progression of CRC of both morphological types. Therefore, different combinations of molecular genetic alterations may be involved in morphologically distinct types of colorectal carcinogenesis, and the K-ras codon 12 mutations may play an important role in polypoid growth of CRC. These results shed light on the function of K-ras oncogenes involved in colorectal carcinogenesis and may be important in the future design of genetic screening programs, determination of prognosis, and treatment for patients with CRC.
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PMID:K-ras codon 12 mutation determines the polypoid growth of colorectral cancer. 969 57

The E-cadherin-mediated cell adhesion system is now considered to be an "invasion suppressor system" in cancer cells. Dysfunction of the E-cadherin system due to mutations of the genes of E-cadherin and catenins has not been reported in colorectal cancer. Histologically, well-differentiated colorectal cancer cells are found to be scattered at the invasive front in primary lesions and form glands again in metastatic sites. We have reported the association and presence of signal transduction between c-erbB-2/epidermal growth factor receptor (EGF-R) and beta-catenin in human cancer cells. This temporal dysfunction of the E-cadherin system observed in colon cancers may be caused by tyrosine phosphorylation of beta-catenin through activated receptor-type tyrosine kinases. Overexpression of EGF-R and tyrosine phosphorylation of beta-catenin are often observed in "focal dedifferentiated cells" at the invasive front of colorectal cancers. In addition, beta-catenin expression is regulated by the APC tumor suppressor gene product. Thus the E-cadherin-catenin system may play important roles not only in invasion and metastasis but also in the carcinogenesis of colorectal cancer.
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PMID:[Dysfunction of E-cadherin-catenin system in invasion and metastasis of colorectal cancer]. 974 18

A series of 25 primary prostate cancers in Japanese were screened for loss of heterozygosity and microsatellite instability using twelve microsatellite markers containing APC, DCC, TP53, BRCA1, and BRCA2. Frequent loss of heterozygosity was observed for D8S201 (48%), LPL (48%), and DCC (26%). In contrast, the incidence did not exceed 15% at BRCA1 and BRCA2 loci. Microsatellite instability was observed in 28% of stage B, C, and D cancers. These data suggest that microsatellite instability and loss of unidentified genes on chromosome 8p may be involved in carcinogenesis of the prostate; however, BRCA1 and BRCA2 may not be largely involved in the development of prostate cancer in the Japanese population.
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PMID:Allelic loss and microsatellite instability in prostate cancers in Japan. 977 25

MSH6 has been implicated in repair of single base mispairs and single-base deletion/insertion mutations. Established MSH6-null mice present a frequent occurrence of gastrointestinal tumors without microsatellite instability (MI), suggesting the possibility of the APC gene being a mutational target. Because human ampullary carcinomas and gastric cancers manifest frequent missense or I-base deletion mutations in cancer-related genes such as p53 and TGFbeta-RII, we suspected that the hMSH6 gene mutation might play a role in the carcinogenesis process. Out of the whole coding sequences, hMSH6 (C)8 (codons 1085-1087) and hMSH3 (A)8 repeats (codons 381-383) have been shown to be hotspots for frameshift mutations in a certain group of cancers, contributing to an increased genomic instability. We therefore investigated mutations of hMSH6 (C)8 and hMSH3 (A)8 in association with microsatellite mutator phenotype (MMP) in 18 ampullary carcinomas and 30 gastric cancers. In addition, overexpression of the P53 protein and mutational status of APC (AG)5 (codons 1462-1465) and (A)6 (codons 1554-1556) repeats were also investigated as a potential target of genetic instability secondary to MSH6 dysfunction. Mutation of the hMSH6 gene was not found in ampullary carcinomas and was irrelevant to TGFbeta-RII gene mutation. Mutation of the hMSH6 gene was observed in a subset of gastric cancers (4/30, 13.3%), but was not associated with P53 overexpression or APC gene mutation. In contrast to MSH6-null mice that do not show MI, hMSH6 gene mutation in human gastric cancers was closely correlated with MMP (3/10 MMP vs. 1/20 non-MMP). In conclusion, hMSH6 mutation appears only in association with MMP and may underlie augmented MI, resulting in missense or I-base frameshift mutations in other genes in human gastric cancers.
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PMID:Mutations of the human MUT S homologue 6 gene in ampullary carcinoma and gastric cancer. 980 25

The different proteins of the E-cadherin/catenin cell-cell adhesion complex are believed to play a predominant role in carcinogenesis. Aberrant expression of these proteins has been found in many different human carcinomas, indicating abnormal regulation. In general, inactivating mutations of the human E-cadherin gene are rare; they are, however, highly frequent in infiltrating lobular breast carcinomas and in diffuse gastric carcinomas. These mutations mostly occur in combination with loss of heterozygosity (LOH) of the wild-type allele. Mutations were found at very early non-invasive stages, thus associating E-cadherin mutations with loss of growth control and defining E-cadherin as a real tumour suppressor for these particular tumour types. Defects affecting both alleles of the alpha E-catenin gene have been found in different human carcinoma cell lines, resulting in the loss of E-cadherin-mediated cell-cell adhesion. Mutations of the beta-catenin gene in colon tumours and melanomas were found to result in an accumulation of the protein in the cytosol. Upon translocation to the nucleus, this beta-catenin enhances TCF/LEF-dependent transcriptional activity. This suggests that mutated beta-catenin can act as an oncogene in these particular tumour types. The multiple interaction partners of beta-catenin are known to be involved in signal transduction, actin organization, protein phosphorylation or transcriptional regulation. This makes this protein an intriguing alternative target for either activation or inactivation in human cancer types characterized by frequent E-cadherin or APC deficiencies.
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PMID:Dysregulation of the E-cadherin/catenin complex by irreversible mutations in human carcinomas. 982 69


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