The adenomatous polyposis coli tumour-suppressor protein in normal gut tissue maintenance and cancer

摘要

Mutations in the gene encoding the adenomatous polyposis coli (APC) protein are common to most sporadic colorectal cancers and are also responsible for one form of inherited colon cancer, familial adenomatous polyposis (FAP). The fact that these mutations occur extremely early, together with the extremely high penetrance specifically in gut tissue, illustrate the importance of understanding the entire complement of changes that loss of APC produces in this tissue because these changes may be suitable targets for early intervention and diagnosis.