Different genetic susceptibility to aberrant crypts and colon adenomas in mice

Aberrant crypt foci (ACFs) are the earliest identifiable epithelial lesions thought to precede the development of a subset of colon tumors. To assess their predictive value to adenoma development, we have tested in mice whether the development of ACFs and adenomas is controlled by the same genes. Therefore we used the CcS/Dem series of recombinant congenic strains, in which the effect of multiple susceptibility genes might be studied separately. We investigated susceptibility to ACFs in nine CcS/Dem strains and their parental strains, BALB/cHeA and STS/A, 4 weeks after s.c. injection of 1,2-dimethylhydrazine (20 mg/kg body weight). For the strains BALB/cHeA, STS/A, and CcS-19, we also examined the number of ACFs 2, 8, and 12 weeks after treatment. Susceptibility to adenomas was measured as the number of adenomas 6 weeks after 26 weekly s.c. injections of 1,2-dimethylhydrazine (15 mg/kg body weight). The nine CcS/Dem strains, the BALB/ cHeA strain, and the STS/A strain exhibited different patterns of susceptibility to ACFs and adenomas, demonstrating that different subsets of susceptibility genes are involved. Therefore, in evaluating the role of ACFs as a predictive marker for adenoma development, genetic factors must be taken into account.