Genetic alterations in human gastrointestinal cancers. The application to molecular diagnosis

Gastrointestinal cancers involve genetic alterations in multiple oncogenes, multiple tumor suppressor genes, and multiple DNA repair genes. However, common and different genetic changes are observed in esophageal, gastric, and colorectal carcinomas, respectively. Inactivation of the p53 gene and expression of CD44 abnormal transcripts are common events that serve as a powerful tool for cancer diagnosis. Gene amplification of cyclin D is found preferentially in esophageal cancer, whereas gene amplification of cyclin E and c-met is frequently associated with gastric cancer. Mutations of the cyclin-dependent kinase inhibitor genes also occur in esophageal and gastric cancers. However, the scenario of multiple gene changes differs depending on the two histologic types of gastric cancer, because they may have different genetic pathways. Interestingly, the frequency of genetic instability is also quite different between the two types of gastric cancer. A new strategy of molecular diagnosis for gastrointestinal cancers, which started as routine work at Hiroshima City Medical Association Clinical Laboratory last August, may provide a new approach to cancer diagnosis for the next decade.