COMMENTARY
See article on page 553
Genetic instability in colorectal cancer
| The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below. |
The development of neoplasia has been thought to be associated with genetic alterations for many years. In colorectal cancer two specific types of genetic instability have been defined. One is associated with chromosomal instability and the other with DNA microsatellite instability, also known as replication errors.1 The mechanism underlying tumorigenesis leads to profound differences in the pathological features, prognosis and response to chemotherapy of these two types of colorectal cancer.
The great majority of colorectal cancers are aneuploid with a variable
chromosome complement. However, between 10 and 15% of colorectal
cancers are near diploid and exhibit DNA microsatellite instability in
which replication errors may be demonstrated within repetitive
sequences of tumour DNA which are not present in the normal DNA of the
individual. Tumours with microsatellite instability occur more
frequently in younger patients, are more frequently proximal to the
splenic flexure and exhibit exophytic growth, poor differentiation,
extracellular mucin production, and
CiteULike 
Complore 
Connotea 
Del.icio.us 
Digg 
Reddit 
Technorati What's this?
Relevant Article
- Frequency of replication errors in colorectal cancer and their association with family history
- S R Brown, P J Finan, L Cawkwell, P Quirke, and D T Bishop
Gut 1998 43: 553-557.[Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]
This article has been cited by other articles:
-
FRAYLING, I M
(1999). Microsatellite instability. Gut
45: 1-4
[Full Text]
Services
- Email this link to a friend
- Similar articles in this journal
- Similar articles in PubMed
- Add article to my folders
- Download to citation manager
- Request Permissions
Citing Articles
Google Scholar
PubMed
Topic Collections
Bookmark with
Register for free content
The full back archive is now available for all BMJ Journals. Institutional subscribers may access the entire archive as part of their subscription. Personal subscribers will also have access to all content when logged in. Non-subscribers who register have free access to all articles published before 2006 right back to volume 1 issue 1. Register here to access the free archive of all BMJ Journals.
Don't forget to sign up for content alerts so you keep up to date with all the articles as they are published.
