title: Pre-cancerous lesions for colorectal cancers in rodents: a new concept.
abstract: It is widely believed that colorectal carcinogenesis is a representative multi-step tumorigenesis with events of genetic alterations. Aberrant crypt foci (ACF) recognized on the surface of cancer-predisposed colons of rodents have been regarded as early-appearing pre-neoplastic lesions. However, it is not clear if such lesions are truly pre-cancerous lesions for colorectal cancers in rodents. Recently, beta-catenin-accumulated crypts (BCAC) were identified in colonic mucosa at the early stages of colon carcinogenesis. Accumulating evidence indicates that they are independent small dysplastic lesions of ACF. Here we discuss the importance of BCAC as pre-cancerous lesions in colon carcinogenesis.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathology, Gifu University School of Medicine, 40 Tsukasa-machi, Gifu 500-8705, Japan.
authors.forename: Yasuhiro
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Yamada
authors.forename: Hideki
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Mori
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor; D002454:Cell Differentiation; D003106:Colon / Q000473:pathology; D015179:Colorectal Neoplasms / Q000473:pathology*; D003598:Cytoskeletal Proteins / Q000502:physiology; D017491:Genes, APC / Q000502:physiology; D051379:Mice; D011230:Precancerous Conditions / Q000473:pathology*; D015534:Trans-Activators / Q000502:physiology; D051176:beta Catenin
chemical_list: D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor; C495267:CTNNB1 protein, mouse; D003598:Cytoskeletal Proteins; D015534:Trans-Activators; D051176:beta Catenin