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Query: UMLS:C0699790 (colon cancer)
 28,837 document(s) hit in 31,850,051 MEDLINE articles (0.00 seconds)

CpG island hypermethylation is a mechanism of gene silencing that can be usurped by neoplastic cells to inactivate undesirable genes. In the colon, hypermethylation often starts in normal mucosa as a function of age and is markedly increased in cancer. To test the hypothesis that subjects at increased risk of colon cancer have higher levels of methylation in their nonneoplastic mucosa, we studied methylation patterns of five genes in the normal and dysplastic mucosa of patients with ulcerative colitis (UC), a condition associated with a marked increased risk of colon cancer. One gene (Mlh1) was unmethylated in all tissues examined. All four remaining genes had low but detectable levels of methylation in the epithelium of UC patients without evidence of dysplasia, and this methylation was not different from non-UC controls. By contrast, all four genes were highly methylated in dysplastic epithelium from high-grade dysplasia (HGD)/cancer patients with UC; methylation in HGD versus controls averaged 40.0% versus 7.4% (P = 0.00003) for ER, 44.0% versus 3.0% (P < 0.00003) for MYOD, 9.4% versus 2.4% (P = 0.03) for p16 exon 1, and 57.5% versus 30.6% (P = 0.01) for CSPG2. Importantly, three of the four genes were also highly methylated in the normal appearing (nondysplastic) epithelium from these same HGD/cancer patients, indicating that methylation precedes dysplasia and is widespread in these patients. Compared with controls, methylation averaged 20.1% versus 7.2% (P = 0.07) for ER, 18.4% versus 3.0% (P < 0.008) for MYOD, and 7.9% versus 2.4% (P = 0.007) for p16 exon 1. These results are consistent with the hypothesis that age-related methylation marks (and may lead to) the field defect that reflects acquired predisposition to colorectal neoplasia. Furthermore, the data suggest that chronic inflammation is associated with high levels of methylation, perhaps as a result of increased cell turnover, and that UC can be viewed as resulting in premature aging of colorectal epithelial cells.
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PMID:Accelerated age-related CpG island methylation in ulcerative colitis. 1132 21

Most cancers are the result of an interaction between germline genetic susceptibility and exposure to environmental carcinogens. We studied chromosomal aberrations, telomeric associations, telomere signal intensity by fluorescence in situ hybridization, p53 germline mutation, bleomycin (Bleo) and 4-nitroquinoline-1-oxide (4NQO) sensitivity, and chromosome-specific telomere signals in T and B lymphocytes in a Caucasian family involving three generations and 13 family members. This family was chosen because eight of its members are extremely sensitive to sunlight and burn easily even upon short exposure. The family members have shown: (a) hypersensitivity either to Bleo or 4NQO mutagens, with values much higher than 1.00 breaks/cell (b/c) for Bleo and 0.40 b/c for 4NQO; (b) an increased rate of telomeric associations; (c) variable amounts of telomeric DNA not common for the person's age; (d) the presence of intron 7 polymorphism in the proband and no significant effect on N-methyl-N'-nitosoguanidine (MNNG)-induced p53 expression in two key family members; and (e) an incidence of epithelial malignancies in two family members. Seven additional members showed polymorphism of telomeric signals in the short arm of two homologous chromosome 17s, where the p53 gene is localized. A 78-year-old grandmother, who had developed colon cancer, was predicted to have metastatic cancer based on the telomeric DNA amount in her lymphocytes (2.90%); she subsequently developed metastatic lesions within a year and died. Based on these observations, we conclude that telomere erosion is the initial cause of genomic instability/susceptibility which, in turn, may be causal for the reproductive complications, premature aging phenotypes and, in some cases, predisposition to cancer development.
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PMID:Germline Telomere Length Dynamics and Mutagen Sensitivity Studies in a Family with Acute Reactions to Sun Exposure: Involvement of Three Generations. 3139 54