Colon Cancer

Timothy J Yeatman, University of South Florida, Tampa, Florida, USA

Published online: January 2003

DOI: 10.1038/npg.els.0001891

Colon cancer is a neoplastic disease of the large intestine, which can be derived from both inherited or somatic genetic alterations that develop over the course of a lifetime. Prevention together with early detection and treatment are the keys to a successful outcome for this very common disease.

Keywords: oncogene; tumour suppressor gene; mucosal lining; large intestine; p53 gene; familial adenomatous polyposis; hereditary nonpolyposis colon cancer

Figure 1. Anatomy of the large intestine. The colon is divided into four sections: caecum and ascending, transverse, descending, and sigmoid. The rectum forms the most distal portion of the large intestine.
Figure 2. Multistep model of colon cancer progression includes alterations in both oncogenes and tumour suppressor genes.
close
 References
    Bresalier RS (1999) Calcium, chemoprevention, and cancer: a small step forward (a long way to go). Gastroenterology 116: 1261–1263.
    Bronner CE, Baker SM, Morrison PT et al. (1994) Mutation in the DNA mismatch repair gene homologue hMLH1 is associated with hereditary non-polyposis colon cancer. Nature 368: 258–261.
    Cao X, Eu KW, Seow-Choen F and Cheah PY et al. (1999) Germline mutations are frequent in the APC gene but absent in the beta-catenin gene in familial adenomatous polyposis patients. Genes Chromosomes and Cancer 25: 396–398.
    Chen YQ, Hsieh JT, Yao F et al. (1999) Induction of apoptosis and G2/M cell cycle arrest by DCC. Oncogene 18: 2747–2754.
    Cummings JH and Southgate DA (1999) Dietary fiber and colorectal cancer [letter; comment]. New England Journal of Medicine 340: 1925–1926.
    Faivre J and Bonithon-Kopp C (1999) Chemoprevention of colorectal cancer. Recent Results in Cancer Research 151: 122–133.
    Fearon E and Vogelstein B (1990) A genetic model for colorectal tumorigenesis. Cell 61: 759–767.
    Gayther S, Wells D, Gulati K et al. (1993) Germline rearrangement of MCC and APC detected by pulsed field gel electrophoresis and fluorescent in situ hybridization (published erratum appears in Annals of Human Genetics 1993; 57: 311). Annals of Human Genetics 57: 169–178.
    He TC, Sparks AB, Rago C et al. (1998) Identification of c-MYC as a target of the APC pathway. Science 281: 1509–1512.
    Irby RB, Mao W, Coppola D et al. (1999) Activating SRC mutation in a subset of advanced human colon cancers. Nature Genetics 21: 187–190.
    Kinzler KW, Nilbert MC, Su LK et al. (1991) Identification of FAP locus genes from chromosome 5q21. Science 253: 661–665.
    Kopnin B (1993) Genetic events responsible for colorectal tumorigenesis: achievements and challenges. Tumori 79: 235–243.
    Korchynskyi O, Landstrom M, Stoika R et al. (1999) Expression of Smad proteins in human colorectal cancer. International Journal of Cancer 82: 197–202.
    Koshland DE Jr (1993) Molecule of the year (editorial). Science 262: 1953.
    Landis SH, Murray T, Bolden S and Wingo PA (1999) Cancer statistics, 1999. CA: A Cancer Journal for Clinicians 49: 8–31.
    Lipsky PE (1999) The clinical potential of cyclooxygenase-2-specific inhibitors. American Journal of Medicine 106: 51S–57S.
    Mobarhan S (1999) Calcium and the colon: recent findings. Nutrition Reviews 57: 124–126.
    Nicolaides NC, Papadopoulos N, Liu B et al. (1994) Mutations of two PMS homologues in hereditary nonpolyposis colon cancer. Nature 371: 75–80.
    Norheim Andersen S, Lovig T, Fausa O and Rognum TO et al. (1999) Germline and somatic mutations in exon 15 of the APC gene and K-ras mutations in duodenal adenomas in patients with familial adenomatous polyposis. Scandinavian Journal of Gastroenterology 34: 611–617.
    Saito M, Yamaguchi A, Goi T et al. (1999) Expression of DCC protein in colorectal tumors and its relationship to tumor progression and metastasis. Oncology 56: 134–141.
    Slattery ML, Potter JD, Samowitz W, Schaffer D and Leppert M (1999) Methylenetetrahydrofolate reductase, diet, and risk of colon cancer. Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers and Prevention 8: 513–518.
    Sturlan S, Kapitanovic S, Kovacevic D et al. (1999) Loss of heterozygosity of APC and DCC tumor suppressor genes in human sporadic colon cancer. Journal of Molecular Medicine 77: 316–321.
    Su LK, Kinzler KW, Volgelstein B et al. (1992) Multiple intestinal neoplasia caused by a mutation in the murine homolog of the APC gene (published erratum appears in Science 1992; 256: 1114). Science 256: 668–670.
    Syngal S, Fox EA, Li C et al. (1999) Interpretation of genetic test results for hereditary nonpolyposis colorectal cancer: implications for clinical predisposition testing. JAMA 282: 247–253.
    Vogelstein B and Kinzler KW (1993) The multistep nature of cancer. Trends in Genetics 9: 138–141.

Related Sub-Topics:

Intracellular and Extracellular Signalling | Cell Biology of Cancer | Cell Cycle | Molecular Genetics of Common and Complex Disease | Cancer Genetics | Linkage Analysis | Gene Mapping by Disease Association | Transcriptional Regulation | DNA Damage and Repair | Mechanisms of Cell Death, Senescence and Metabolism
Contact Editor close
Submit a note to the editor about this article by filling in the form below.

* Required Field

Article Title: Colon Cancer
 
How to Cite close
Yeatman, Timothy J(Jan 2003) Colon Cancer. In: eLS. John Wiley & Sons Ltd, Chichester. http://www.els.net [doi: 10.1038/npg.els.0001891]