The CpG Island Methylator Phenotype in Colorectal Cancer - Pathways and Precursors

肠癌是影响澳大利亚人的最常见癌症之一。它将影响1-23名澳大利亚人，是与癌症相关的死亡的主要原因。如果及早诊断，肠癌是可以通过手术治愈的。不幸的是，直到癌症晚期才出现症状，而治愈率只有55%。人们已经认识到，有不同类型的肠癌取决于不同的基因，这些基因可以异常失活。我们认为至少有四种不同的肠道肿瘤亚型，每一种可能具有不同的物理特性和对治疗的反应。我们的目标是更好地描述这些亚群，以增加我们对正常肠道如何转变为微小息肉的理解，后者可能会发展为癌症。了解导致肠癌每一亚型的基因变化将使未来开发用于早期发现的基因标记以及个性化患者治疗的可能性。我们还在研究患有或不患有息肉的患者的正常肠道组织的微小活检，试图了解可能导致肠息肉发展的最早变化。

Bowel cancer is one of the most common cancers affecting Australians. It will affect 1-23 Australians and is a leading cause of cancer-related death. If diagnosed early, bowel cancer is curable with surgery. Unfortunately, symptoms are often not present until the cancer is advanced, when the cure rate is only 55%. It has been recognised that there are different types of bowel cancer depending on different genes which can be inactivated abnormally. We propose that there are at least four different subgroups of bowel tumours, and that each of these may have different physical properties and responses to therapy. We aim to better characterise these subgroups to increase our understanding of how normal bowel can change into a small polyp, that may grow into a cancer. Understanding the gene changes leading to each subtype of bowel cancer will in the future allow the development gene markers for early detection as well as the possibility of individualised patient therapy. We are also studying tiny biopsies of normal bowel tissue from patients either with or without polyps, to try to understand the very earliest changes which may underly the development of a bowel polyp.