Gene/Protein Disease Symptom Drug Enzyme Compound
Pivot Concepts:   Target Concepts:
Query: UMLS:C0699790 (colon cancer)
 28,837 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

Retinoblastoma (RB) and the familial adenomatous polyposis/colorectal cancer (FAP/CRC) complex provide well-characterised examples of multistage carcinogenesis and inheritance of a predisposition to cancer. Retinoblastoma appears to conform to the simple two-step model first proposed by Knudson. The gene responsible for RB, now called Rb1, has been located in chromosome region 13q14. The Rb1 gene has been cloned and subjected to extensive analysis. It is probable that the Rb1 gene product has a role in the regulation of transcription. The familial form of RB occurs as the result of a germline mutation of one of the copies of the Rb1 gene. Colorectal cancer, in contrast, appears to be the result of four or five steps involving both activation of oncogenes and inactivation of antioncogenes. The FAP gene has been located in chromosome region 5q21 by genetic linkage, and a candidate gene, MCC (mutated in colon cancer), has been cloned. Other mutations in previously-identified genes that have been identified as important in the genesis of CRC include the activation of p53 and of Ki-ras. A gene lying in chromosome region 18q which is deleted in colorectal cancer, and hence named DCC has been cloned. Its protein product has sequence homology to neural cell adhesion molecules and other related cell-surface glycoproteins. Delineation of the genes involved in the development of tumours such as RB and CRC provides insight into the mechanisms by which sequential mutations result in carcinogenesis.
 ...
PMID:Multistage carcinogenesis in paediatric and adult cancers. 131 30

Recently, remarkable progress in molecular biology has enabled isolation of genes responsible for hereditary tumors such as retinoblastoma (RB), Wilms' tumor (WT), von Recklinghausen neurofibromatosis (NF 1), and familial adenomatous polyposis (FAP). Since patients with FAP develop multiple adenomatous polyps in the colon, some of which progress to colon cancer, isolation of the FAP gene allows us a rare opportunity to study genetic events underlying the well defined morphological changes during progression of colorectal tumors. In this report, we presented an approach called "positional cloning" which has become a powerful tool for identifying genes responsible for hereditary tumors, as well as characteristics of some of such genes.
 ...
PMID:[Positional cloning of genes responsible for hereditary tumors]. 134 83

The concept of multistage carcinogenesis is one of the central dogmas of cancer research today. Recent laboratory work suggests that many specific genetic changes are associated with carcinogenesis. At the same time, there is increasing evidence that cell proliferation kinetics are important in carcinogenesis. In 1971, Knudson proposed his now celebrated two-mutation model for embryonal tumors. In fact, a two-mutation model that explicitly considers cell kinetics is the most parsimonious model consistent with the incidence of both childhood and adult cancer in human populations. This model has been known to be consistent, as well, with other epidemiologic and experimental data. But can such a model be reconciled with the laboratory evidence suggesting that many genetic alterations are required for malignant transformation? In this paper, I examine multistage carcinogenesis from the population perspective. Can cancer incidence data in populations provide some insight into the number and nature of stages involved in malignant transformation? I focus attention on carcinoma of the colon because of the considerable amount of information that is now available on the genetics of these tumors. Also, as is the case with retinoblastoma, colon cancer occurs in sporadic and dominantly inherited forms. A comparison of the incidence of these two forms of colon cancer suggests that mutation at the familial adenomatous polyposis (FAP) locus is not necessary for colon cancer, and that inheritance of the gene for FAP is not equivalent to inheriting one of the essential steps on the pathway to colon cancer. Thus, colon cancer does not follow the retinoblastoma paradigm. The incidence of colon cancer in the general population and among polyposis subjects is consistent with two or three mutations on the pathway to malignancy. A three-mutation model is more consistent with the genetic alterations observed in colon carcinogenesis. I present and discuss a working model for colon cancer.
 ...
PMID:A population perspective on multistage carcinogenesis. 166 93

Retinoblastoma gene has been cloned, and gene product has been characterized precisely. Recently, Wilms' tumor gene has been cloned, and interestingly, its expression was found in genitourinary system, suggesting that anomaly of this system was due to WT gene itself. Molecular analysis performed in colon cancer suggested that several tumor suppressor genes were involved in carcinogenesis and progression of this tumor. These findings revealed that tumor suppressor genes were involved in the development of adult cancer as well as childhood embryonal tumors. Chromosome abnormalities and tumor suppressor gene in childhood cancer are reviewed and referred to future prospects.
 ...
PMID:[Chromosome abnormalities and tumor suppressor gene in childhood cancer]. 197 26

Cancer is genetic, in the sense that it is caused by DNA alterations at the cellular level. On the other hand, the most important risk factors for the common cancers are environmental: cigarette smoking, environmental pollution, occupational exposures, poor diet, and so on. These two observations are not in conflict: the DNA alterations that lead to cancer are very likely to be caused by environmental mutagens. It would be valuable to know exactly what genes are altered to cause a specific cancer, because the effects of these alterations might then be reversible before cancer has a chance to develop. A key to identifying these cancer genes may lie with rare families at extremely high risk of a specific cancer. Unlike most cancer patients, members of these families may inherit an alteration that confers increased susceptibility to cancer. In these rare instances, cancer is a genetic disease at the level of the family, as well as at the level of the cell. Therefore, in these families, genes predisposing to cancer can be mapped in the same way as genes for purely genetic diseases like sickle cell anaemia, cystic fibrosis, and Huntington's disease. The hypothesis that underlies the mapping of cancer genes in families is that the genes inherited in altered form in these rare families are the same genes that are altered in somatic cells of individuals without a remarkable family history of cancer. This hypothesis has proved correct for retinoblastoma. Genes responsible for other rare cancers have been mapped in families as well: neurofibromatosis, multiple endocrine neoplasia, Wilms' tumour, and colon cancer following familial adenomatous polyps, among others. Genes responsible for common cancers are also being defined by genetic analysis, most notably breast cancer and colon cancer. This review summarizes why, how, and what genetic analysis of families can reveal about human cancers.
 ...
PMID:Genetic analysis of cancer in families. 210 20

Familial aggregations of defined malignancies are of great importance for determining the genetic factors involved, as has been demonstrated for familial and sporadic retinoblastoma. In nearly all organs, neoplasms occur that are inherited similar to familial retinoblastoma (Rb). For example, more than 5% of all women suffering from breast cancer belong to breast cancer families in which the occurrence of the malignancy suggests an autosomal dominant pattern of inheritance. Familial colon cancer is associated with several well-known autosomal dominantly inherited polyposis syndromes, and also other susceptibilities without obvious clinical features. Site-specific cancers are often accompanied by other malignancies. In addition, there seem to be predispositions to a wider range of different, but well-defined neoplasms: e.g., adenocarcinomatosis of the colon and the endometrium, or the Li-Fraumeni/SBLA syndrome. The latter shows a spectrum of sarcoma, brain tumours, breast cancer, leukaemias, lung and adenocortical cancer. The genes leading to these types of dominantly inherited predispositions appear to be the tentatively so-called tumour suppressor genes, for which the Rb gene serves as a model. It manifests itself recessively on the level of the individual cell, which means both alleles must be deleted or inactivated before a retinoblast develops into a neoplastic cell. Clinical, epidemiological and molecular genetic studies have yet to establish whether the Rb model can be extended to all other forms of dominantly inherited human cancers.
 ...
PMID:Dominant inheritance in human cancer. 219 May 28

Aberrant crypts, identified with methylene blue staining of unsectioned colon from carcinogen-treated rats on the basis of their increased size, were examined for the altered expression of hexosaminidase activity. Previously we identified enzyme-altered foci with normal morphology in sections of colon from carcinogen-treated rats. A reduction of histochemically demonstrable hexosaminidase activity was the most consistent marker for these foci. Aberrant crypts, marked with permanent ink and embedded in methacrylate, had a marked decrease of hexosaminidase activity compared to the adjacent, normal crypts. Hexosaminidase may be a marker that will aid in the identification of the molecular basis of colon cancer in a manner similar to that of esterase D and retinoblastoma.
 ...
PMID:Colonic aberrant crypts in azoxymethane-treated F344 rats have decreased hexosaminidase activity. 229 43

Molecular genetic studies of tumor-specific allele loss, originally associated primarily with research regarding childhood hereditary cancers such as retinoblastoma and Wilms' tumors, only lately have been recognized as a relatively fast and fruitful way of locating cancer genes on human chromosomes. To date, over 25 different cancers have been tied to a gene (or genes) on a specific chromosome when this method has been used. During the past year alone, this approach has permitted detection of three genes involved in either hereditary or sporadic colorectal cancers. These three genes, located on chromosomes 5q, 17p, and 18q, are believed to belong to the newly described tumor suppressor (or growth suppressor) gene class, whose effects are opposite those of activated cellular oncogenes, which promote uncontrolled cell growth. Present studies, however, have not shown losses of any of these tumor suppressor genes to be correlated with the presence of activated ras genes in colorectal adenomas or carcinomas. During progression from adenoma to carcinoma, ras gene mutations and 5q allelic deletions are likely to be earlier events, whereas allelic losses from chromosomes 18q and 17p seem to occur more often in advanced tumors. Involvement of the genes on 5q (FAP) and 18q (Lynch syndrome II) in hereditary colon cancer syndromes is supported by linkage studies, but their respective roles (as well as that of the gene on 17p) in familial and sporadic colorectal cancer remain to be precisely defined. Probable isolation of these three genes by molecular cloning within the next few years will help elucidate their specific biologic functions. It will also permit early detection, and thus prevention, of some familial colon cancers (such as FAP), and possibly allow DNA marker-based separation of different colon cancer subtypes of similar histologic appearance.
 ...
PMID:Molecular genetic studies of colon cancer. 264 66

The aim of a primary screening system is to detect premalignant lesions and carcinomas when amenable to "curative" surgery. Although a number of "classical" tumor markers have acquired potential for clinical management, none is presently adequate for presymptomatic diagnosis or screening. In colorectal carcinoma, the screening potential of carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA), the gastrointestinal-related antigen, CA19-9, and other more recently characterized "biochemical markers" is virtually nonexistent, even in patients at high risk to develop the disease. Promising new leads are beginning to emerge from somatic cell genetic and molecular biological approaches. In common with other epithelial neoplasms, perturbations in oncogene expression have been demonstrated in colorectal cancers, and probably reflect important events in malignant transformation and progression. Studies of oncogene expression have, however, not yet yielded clinically useful information. Recently, an intensive search for specific chromosomal and gene abnormalities in the hereditary colon cancer syndromes led to the location of the familial adenomatous polyposis (FAP) gene at chromosome 5q21-q22. Significant is that the loss of alleles on chromosome 5 has also been observed in the tumor cells of at least 20% of sporadic colon cancer patients. This type of association between constitutional genetic change and genetic aberration in the cells of sporadic tumors is reminiscent of other malignant diseases with a genetic component (e.g., retinoblastoma and Wilms' tumor).(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
 ...
PMID:Current status of tumor markers in large bowel cancer. 265 54

Familial polyposis coli (FPC) is caused by an autosomal dominant gene on chromosome 5, and it has been proposed that colorectal cancer in the general population arises from loss or inactivation of the FPC gene, analogous to recessive tumor genes in retinoblastoma and Wilms' tumor. Since allelic loss can be erroneously scored in nonhomogeneous samples, tumor cell populations were first microdissected from 24 colorectal carcinomas, an additional nine cancers were engrafted in nude mice, and nuclei were flow-sorted from an additional two. Of 31 cancers informative for chromosome 5 markers, only 6 (19%) showed loss of heterozygosity of chromosome 5 alleles, compared to 19 of 34 (56%) on chromosome 17, and 17 of 33 (52%) on chromosome 18. Therefore, it appears that (i) FPC is a true dominant for adenomatosis but not a common recessive gene for colon cancer; and (ii) simple Mendelian models involving loss of alleles at a single locus may be inappropriate for understanding common human solid tumors.
 ...
PMID:Concerted nonsyntenic allelic loss in human colorectal carcinoma. 284 61


1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 Next >>