title: K-ras2 activation and genome instability increase proliferation and size of FAP adenomas.
abstract: The possible role of K-ras2 mutations and aneuploidy toward increase of proliferation and adenoma size in Familial Adenomatous Polyposis (FAP) adenomas is not known. The present study addresses these issues by investigating 147 colorectal adenomas obtained from four FAP patients. The majority of adenomas had size lower than or equal to 10 mm (86%), low grade dysplasia (63%), and were preferentially located in the right colon (60%). Normal mucosa samples were obtained from 19 healthy donors. Three synchronous adenocarcinomas were also investigated. K-ras2 mutation spectrum was analysed by PCR and Sequence Specific Oligonucleotide (SSO) hybridization, while flow cytometry (FCM) was used for evaluating degree of DNA ploidy and S-phase fraction. Overall, incidences of K-ras2 mutations, DNA aneuploidy and high S-phase values (>7.2%) were 6.6%, 5.4% and 10.5%, respectively. In particular, among the adenomas with size lower than 5 mm, K-ras2 mutation and DNA aneuploidy frequencies were only slightly above 1%. Statistically significant correlations were found between K-ras2 and size, DNA ploidy and size and K-ras2 and S-phase (p < 0.001). In particular, among the wild type K-ras2 adenomas, high S-phase values were detected in 8% of the cases versus 57% among the K-ras2 mutated adenomas (p = 0.0005). The present series of FAP adenomas indicates that K-ras2 activation and gross genomic changes play a role toward a proliferative gain and tumour growth in size.
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Biophysics and Cytometry, National Cancer Institute, Genoa, Italy.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Rapallo
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Sciutto
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Geido
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Orecchia
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Infusini
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Pujic
authors.forename: E S
authors.initials: ES
authors.lastname: d'Amore
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Monaco
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Risio
authors.forename: F P
authors.initials: FP
authors.lastname: Rossini
authors.forename: W
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Giaretti
mesh_terms: D000230:Adenocarcinoma / Q000235:genetics* / Q000473:pathology; D000236:Adenoma / Q000235:genetics* / Q000473:pathology; D011125:Adenomatous Polyposis Coli / Q000235:genetics* / Q000473:pathology; D000328:Adult; D000782:Aneuploidy; D003106:Colon / Q000473:pathology; D015179:Colorectal Neoplasms / Q000235:genetics* / Q000473:pathology; D004273:DNA, Neoplasm / Q000032:analysis; D005260:Female; D005434:Flow Cytometry; D011905:Genes, ras / Q000235:genetics*; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D009092:Mucous Membrane / Q000473:pathology; D009154:Mutation; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction
chemical_list: D004273:DNA, Neoplasm