Cancer Multiple polyposis

Chapters 11 and 31. Since cancers contain multiple mutations, they are complex diseases. However, many specific susceptibility loci are being located, including some for breast cancer (Box 11-D),392 prostate cancer,393 and familial adenomatous polyposis, a hereditary disease leading to colon cancer.388 394 Cancer has long been known to be associated with chromosome instability including deletion and insertion mutations at simple repeat sequences, frame-shift mutations,395 DNA breakage, translocation,396 and losses or gains of whole chromosomes 397... 

Colon cancer is one of the main causes of cancer mortality in Western societies [150]. About 15-20% of colorectal tumors are causally determined by inheritance of genetic alterations such as the hereditary nonpolyposis colorectal cancer (HNPCC) and the syndrome familial adenomatous polyposis (FAP) [151,152]. Microsatellite instability, a characteristic of HNPCC, is caused by mutations in the genes essential for mismatch repair. The loss of mismatch repair has several consequences most crucially, the loss of proofreading and correction of small deletions and insertions. FAP is a rare autosomal dominant syndrome caused by an inherited mutation in the APC gene. The disease is characterized by the development of multiple colorectal adenomas, numbering from a few polyps to several thousands. 

Lavergne A, Brouland JP, Launay E, et al. Multiple lymphoma-tous polyposis of the gastrointestinal tract. An extensive histopathologic and immunohistochemical study of 12 cases. Cancer. 1994 74(ll) 3042-3050. 

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