Colorectal cancer pathogenesis

Colorectal cancer (CRC) is the second leading cause of cancer death in the United States, with about 5% of cases associated with inherited mutations linked to colon cancer syndromes. The molecular basis of sporadic and inherited CRC involves two distinct pathways, one of chromosomal instability and one associated with microsateUite mstabifity. The original model of chromosome instability proposed in 1990 to explain the pathogenesis of most sporadic tumors (-85%) has been further characterized to reveal a complex chain of events whereby normal colon fining (mucosa) is transformed... 

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Williams N S, et al. (2003). Identification and validation of genes involved in the pathogenesis of colorectal cancer using cDNA microarrays and RNA interference. Clin. Cancer Res. 9(3) 931-946. 

Lynch, J.P. and Hoops, T.C., The genetic pathogenesis of colorectal cancer, Hematol. Oncol. Clin. North Am., 16, 775-810, 2002. 

A prospective American Cancer Society study found an increase in the mortality rates for colorectal and prostate cancer in overweight men and for endometrial, gallbladder, cervical, ovarian and breast cancer in overweight women (Lew 1985). An association with obesity is now firmly established for breast cancer in post-menopausal women, as well as for endometrial cancer and for renal cell cancer. Obesity may also play a part in the pathogenesis of colorectal, prostatic and pancreatic cancers in men (Caroll 1998). 

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