Incidence of colorectal cancer is increasing during the last years. 5% of the population get affected. From these a group of patients with a higher carcinoma risk must be separated: that with adenomas, familial polyposis and ulcerative colitis. Nourishment seems to be one of the main factors for the development of cancer. Although all important principles of radical surgery are realized, this 5...

Colorectal cancer is the second most common cause of cancer mortality in the western world. Colorectal cancer has been well studied, and the genetic steps involved in the adenoma to carcinoma sequence have been well elucidated. The first genetic alteration, found in 85% of adenomas, are mutations in the adenomatous polyposis coli (APC) gene. However, the consequences of this and the exact funct...

Background Causative genetic variants have to date been identified for only a small proportion of familial colorectal cancer (CRC). While conditions such as Familial Adenomatous Polyposis (FAP) and Lynch Syndrome (Hereditary Nonpolyposis Colorectal Cancer, HNPCC) are caused by well defined genetic defects, the search for variants underlying the remainder of familial CRC is plagued by genetic he...

A first-degree relative of an individual with colorectal cancer is on average at about a twofold increased risk. This could not occur without there being strong underlying risk factors that are correlated in relatives. About 90% of colorectal cases occur in people who are above median familial/genetic risk, so there is great potential to use genetics to prevent colorectal cancer. Two rare inher...

UNLABELLED We have recently identified a metastasis suppressor gene for colorectal cancer: AES/Aes, which encodes an endogenous inhibitor of NOTCH signaling. When Aes is knocked out in the adenomatous epithelium of intestinal polyposis mice, their tumors become malignant, showing marked submucosal invasion and intravasation. Here, we show that one of the genes induced by NOTCH signaling in colo...

BACKGROUND Serrated polyposis syndrome (SPS) is a rare entity mainly concerning the 6th decade of life and which is characterized by the presence of multiple large hyperplastic polyps, sessile serrated adenomas, and adenomas within the colon. CASE REPORT We describe the case of a SPS patient with 3 synchronous adenocarcinomas. The morphologic features of serrated colorectal lesions, their cha...

A new murine model of human colorectal cancer was generated by crossing human carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) transgenic mice (H-2K(b)) with adenomatous polyposis coli (Apc1638N) knockout mice (H-2K(b)). The resulting hybrid mice developed gastrointestinal polyps in 6-8 months that progressed to invasive carcinomas with a similar pattern of dysplasia and CEA expression as observed in human color...

Family history is a major risk factor for colorectal cancer and many families segregate the disease as a seemingly monogenic trait. A minority of familial colorectal cancer could be explained by known monogenic genes and genetic loci. Familial polyposis and Lynch syndrome are two syndromes where the predisposing genes are known but numerous families have been tested without finding the predispo...