A significant fraction of colorectal carcinoma susceptibility remains molecularly unexplained. Hereditary colon cancer syndromes with increased tumor initiation or progression provide an efficient approach to dissect the mechanisms behind colon cancer development. This international collaborative project takes advantage of large repositories of cancer families to identify novel strong colon tumor susceptibility genes by a genome-wide investigation. Based on our preliminary findings, we will particularly focus on genes involved in the processing of DNA and RNA in various biological steps. The mechanisms of tumorigenesis and the tendency to develop tumors in selected organs despite the presence of the predisposing mutation in every cell will also be addressed. Our home page is http://blogs.helsinki.fi/episusceptibility/. This research is expected to be significant for public health by generating new tools for colorectal cancer risk assessment and targeted prevention.

2020

2024