Chromosomal Instability Is Found In Several Colon Cancer Types


NewsRx.com


March 20, 2003

According to recent research from Spain, Biological and genetic cell
heterogeneity is a landmark of most colorectal cancers and provides a frame for
tumor progression as an evolutionary process. Classical models have hypothesized
that increased genetic instability may contribute to modulating and shaping of
malignant transformation. This is true for the small subset of colorectal
cancers displaying microsatellite instability.

"For the rest of colorectal tumors, numerical and/or structural chromosomal
alterations are the most prominent outcome of genetic disruption. These
observations have prompted some investigators to hypothesize about the presence
of chromosomal instability in these cells. To characterize chromosomal
instability in cancer cells, we have analyzed genetic clonal divergence in three
colorectal cancer cell lines considered to be archetypes in cancer research
(HCT116, LoVo, and SW480). A dynamic setting was designed to allow the
calculation of mutation rates. Comprehensive analyses at the chromosomal level
revealed distinctive patterns of genetic divergence. Aneuploid SW480 cells
displayed high rates of structural alterations (>100-fold) as compared with near
diploid LoVo cells. Numerical alterations also occurred more frequently in SW480
cells but at low rates as compared with rearrangements in the chromosomically
unstable SW480 cells," wrote M. Ribas and colleagues from Hospital Duran &
Reynals.

The researchers concluded: "These results strengthen the role of structural
instability in the generation of genetic heterogeneity in colorectal cancer."

Ribas and colleagues published their study in FASEB Journal (The structural
nature of chromosomal instability in colon cancer cells. FASEB J,
2002;16(14):U237-U253).

For additional information, contact M.A. Peinado, Hospital Duran & Reynals,
Institute Rec Oncology, Granvia Km 2, 7, Barcelona, Spain.

To subscribe to the FASEB Journal, contact the publisher: Federation American
Society Experimental Biology, 9650 Rockville Pike, Bethesda, MD 20814-3998, USA.


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