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Updated: Sep 1, 2025

Deficient Pms2, ERCC1, Ku86, CcOI in Field Defects During Progression to Colon Cancer
Published on: July 28, 2010
Genetic and epigenetic dependencies in colorectal cancer development
Sehej Parmar1, Hariharan Easwaran1
1Cancer Genetics and Epigenetics, Oncology, Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD, USA.
Abstract:
Recent studies have mapped key genetic changes in colorectal cancer (CRC) that impact important pathways contributing to the multistep models for CRC initiation and development. In parallel with genetic changes, normal and cancer tissues harbor epigenetic alterations impacting regulation of critical genes that have been shown to play profound roles in the tumor initiation. Cumulatively, these molecular changes are only loosely associated with heterogenous transcriptional programs, reflecting the heterogeneity in the various CRC molecular subtypes and the paths to CRC development. Studies from mapping molecular alterations in early CRC lesions and use of experimental models suggest that the intricate dependencies of various genetic and epigenetic hits shape the early development of CRC via different pathways and its manifestation into various CRC subtypes. We highlight the dependency of epigenetic and genetic changes in driving CRC development and discuss factors affecting epigenetic alterations over time and, by extension, risk for cancer.
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