scholarly journals Hereditary Nonpolyposis Colorectal Cancer and Cancer Syndromes: Recent Basic and Clinical Discoveries

2018 ◽  
Vol 2018 ◽  
pp. 1-11 ◽  
Author(s):  
Erbao Chen ◽  
Xiaojing Xu ◽  
Tianshu Liu

Approximately one-third of individuals diagnosed with colorectal cancer have a family history of cancer, suggesting that CRCs may result from a heritable component. Despite the availability of current gene-identification techniques, only 5% of all CRCs emerge from well-identifiable inherited causes for predisposition, including polyposis and nonpolyposis syndromes. Hereditary nonpolyposis colorectal cancer represents a large proportion of cases, and robustly affected patients are at increased risk for early onset, synchronous, and metachronous colorectal malignancies and extracolonic malignancies. HNPCC encompasses several cancer syndromes, such as Lynch syndrome, Lynch-like syndrome, and familial colorectal cancer type X, which have remarkable clinical presentations and overlapping genetic profiles that make clinical diagnosis a challenging task. Therefore, distinguishing between the HNPCC disorders is crucial for physicians as an approach to tailor different recommendations for patients and their at-risk family members according to the risks for colonic and extracolonic cancer associated with each syndrome. Identification of these potential patients through epidemiological characteristics and new genetic testing can estimate the individual risk, which informs appropriate cancer screening, surveillance, and/or treatment strategies. In the past three years, many appealing and important advances have been made in our understanding of the relationship between HNPCC and CRC-associated syndromes. The knowledge from the genetic profile of cancer syndromes and unique genotype-phenotype profiles in the different syndromes has changed our cognition. Therefore, this review presents and discusses HNPCC and several common nonpolyposis syndromes with respect to molecular phenotype, histopathologic features, and clinical presentation.

2009 ◽  
Vol 3 (2) ◽  
pp. 81-87
Author(s):  
Paolo Ghiringhelli

Hereditary nonpolyposis colorectal cancer (HNPCC), also known as Lynch syndrome, is a common autosomal dominant syndrome characterized by early age at onset, and microsatellite instability (MSI). Patients with Lynch syndrome have a markedly increased risk of colorectal cancer. We report a case of a 28-year-old male with Lynch syndrome; the case allows to describe clinical manifestations and diagnostic criteria of this syndrome, and to underline the importance of genetics in the diagnosis of this disease.


2006 ◽  
Vol 16 (3) ◽  
pp. 1393-1400
Author(s):  
M. J. Hewitt ◽  
N. Wood ◽  
N. D. Quinton ◽  
R. Charlton ◽  
G. Taylor ◽  
...  

Microsatellite instability (MSI) is the phenotypic molecular characteristic of the majority of tumors associated with the hereditary nonpolyposis colorectal cancer syndrome (HNPCC). Women in this group have an increased risk of endometrial cancer (EC). This study aimed to determine whether MSI could be demonstrated in blind endometrial samples from women with EC, HNPCC kindreds undergoing screening for EC, and women with normal endometrium. Twenty-four women with EC, 20 women from HNPCC kindreds, and 20 women undergoing gynecological surgery for benign indications underwent blind sampling. MSI analysis was performed by conventional polymerase chain reaction using fluorescent-labeled primers and automated analysis. Twelve microsatellites were studied with MSI defined as evident when novel alleles were seen in endometrial biopsy samples compared to genomic DNA. Of the 24 EC samples obtained, sufficient DNA for analysis was extracted in 17 cases. Three cases had evidence of MSI in at least 7/12 loci. None of the endometrium from the two other study groups revealed evidence of MSI. This is the first demonstration of MSI in blind endometrial biopsies. The ability to demonstrate MSI in heterogenous endometrial samples suggests potential for the development of a novel EC screening tool for women in HNPCC kindreds.


2014 ◽  
Vol 133 (3) ◽  
pp. 526-530 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zohreh Ketabi ◽  
Anne-Marie Gerdes ◽  
Berit Mosgaard ◽  
Steen Ladelund ◽  
Inge Bernstein

Cancers ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (13) ◽  
pp. 3178
Author(s):  
Ashutosh Tripathy ◽  
Jayalaxmi Dash ◽  
Sudhakar Kancharla ◽  
Prachetha Kolli ◽  
Deviyani Mahajan ◽  
...  

Colorectal cancer (CRC) is the World’s third most frequently diagnosed cancer type. It accounted for about 9.4% mortality out of the total incidences of cancer in the year 2020. According to estimated facts by World Health Organization (WHO), by 2030, 27 million new CRC cases, 17 million deaths, and around 75 million people living with the disease will appear. The facts and evidence that establish a link between the intestinal microflora and the occurrence of CRC are quite intuitive. Current shortcomings of chemo- and radiotherapies and the unavailability of appropriate treatment strategies for CRC are becoming the driving force to search for an alternative approach for the prevention, therapy, and management of CRC. Probiotics have been used for a long time due to their beneficial health effects, and now, it has become a popular candidate for the preventive and therapeutic treatment of CRC. The probiotics adopt different strategies such as the improvement of the intestinal barrier function, balancing of natural gut microflora, secretion of anticancer compounds, and degradation of carcinogenic compounds, which are useful in the prophylactic treatment of CRC. The pro-apoptotic ability of probiotics against cancerous cells makes them a potential therapeutic candidate against cancer diseases. Moreover, the immunomodulatory properties of probiotics have created interest among researchers to explore the therapeutic strategy by activating the immune system against cancerous cells. The present review discusses in detail different strategies and mechanisms of probiotics towards the prevention and treatment of CRC.


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