The Molecular Pathogenesis of Colorectal Cancer and Its Potential Application to Colorectal Cancer Screening

Abstract

Advances in our understanding of the molecular genetics and epigenetics of colorectal cancer has led to novel insights into the pathogenesis of this common cancer. These advances have revealed that there are molecular subtypes of colon polyps and colon cancer and that these molecular subclasses have unique and discrete clinical and pathological features. Although the molecular characterization of these subgroups of colorectal polyps and cancer is only partially understood at this time, it does appear likely that classifying colon polyps and cancers based on their genomic instability and/or epigenomic instability status will eventually be useful for informing approaches for the prevention and early detection of colon polyps and colorectal cancer. In this review, we will discuss our current understanding of the molecular pathogenesis of the polyp to cancer sequence and the potential to use this information to direct screening and prevention programs.

Immune Contexture, Immunoscore, and Malignant Cell Molecular Subgroups for Prognostic and Theranostic Classifications of Cancers

“…The mechanisms underlying this phenomenon are still poorly understood, most likely because of its complexity: hundreds of genes have been shown to induce CIN in yeast, while only around 10 have been identified in humans (Pino & Chung, 2010). Most of these include genes related to chromosome segregation during replication, such as BUB1, BUB1B, and AURKA (Grady & Markowitz, 2015;Pino & Chung, 2010), and genes involved response to DNA damage such as TP53, BRCA1, and BRCA2 (Pino & Chung, 2010).…”

Overexpression of long non-coding RNA-CTD903 inhibits colorectal cancer invasion and migration by repressing Wnt/β-catenin signaling and predicts favorable prognosis

“…Therefore, early diagnosis and prediction of potential metastasis or recurrence show the greatest potential for mCRC therapy. There are a few of tumor biomarkers currently applied for prediction of CRC prognosis, such as gene mutations status of Kras, Braf, PI3K, TP53, and microsatellite instability (MSI) for selection of PD-1 inhibitor in the literature (4)(5)(6). It is still pivotal to find additional molecular biomarkers for clinical translation in CRC, especially those that can predict potential tumor recurrence or metastasis.…”

MicroRNA-187 inhibits tumor growth and invasion by directly targeting CD276 in colorectal cancer

“…However, promising therapy for CRC is not available, for the molecular mechanisms of CRC development and progression remain ambiguous. Thus, better understanding the pathogenesis of CRC and exploring novel targets is of crucial significance for CRC treatment [2]. …”