title: Significance and role of early-lesions in experimental colorectal carcinogenesis.
abstract: Preneoplastic or precancerous lesions in the large bowel have attracted much attention, and aberrant crypt foci (ACF) topographically identified in the colonic mucosa have found application as effective endpoint lesions for detection of chemopreventive agents as well as carcinogenic risk assessment of environmental agents. While many ACF are regarded as hyperplastic in nature, lacking the potential lesion to give rise to neoplasia, a subset termed dysplastic ACF, or newly identified "mucin depleted foci (MDF)", and "beta-catenin accumulated crypts (BCAC)" are suggested to be more reliably related to colorectal tumorigenesis in rodents. ACF and MDF can be visualized on the surface of colonic mucosa and BCAC were recently identified by our laboratory in rodents en face in cross sections. In particular, BCAC having a similar pattern of beta-catenin gene mutation to that observed in colonic carcinomas appear to be direct precursors. This review provides a review and discussion of the relevant literature relative to early lesions in colorectal carcinogenesis.
authors.affiliation: Department of Tumor Pathology, Graduate School of Medicine, Gifu University, 1-1 Yanagido, Gifu 500-1194, Japan. hidmori@cc.gifu-u.ac.jp
authors.forename: Hideki
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Mori
authors.forename: Kazuya
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Hata
authors.forename: Yasuhiro
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Yamada
authors.forename: Toshiya
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Kuno
authors.forename: Akira
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Hara
mesh_terms: D000230:Adenocarcinoma / Q000139:chemically induced / Q000473:pathology*; D000818:Animals; D002273:Carcinogens / Q000633:toxicity; D015179:Colorectal Neoplasms / Q000139:chemically induced / Q000473:pathology*; D003598:Cytoskeletal Proteins / Q000187:drug effects / Q000378:metabolism; D004195:Disease Models, Animal; D007413:Intestinal Mucosa / Q000187:drug effects / Q000378:metabolism / Q000473:pathology; D009077:Mucins / Q000172:deficiency / Q000187:drug effects / Q000378:metabolism; D011230:Precancerous Conditions / Q000139:chemically induced / Q000473:pathology*; D015534:Trans-Activators / Q000187:drug effects / Q000378:metabolism; D051176:beta Catenin
chemical_list: D002273:Carcinogens; D003598:Cytoskeletal Proteins; D009077:Mucins; D015534:Trans-Activators; D051176:beta Catenin