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Colon cancer is the second leading cause of cancer deaths in the U.S. Polyps, the first stage In tumor development. http://www.clevelandclinic.org/registries/inherited/fap.htm. Colorectal cancer. 150,000 cases diagnosed per year (i.e., your chances are 1/18)
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Colon cancer is the second leading cause of cancer deaths in the U.S. Polyps, the first stage In tumor development http://www.clevelandclinic.org/registries/inherited/fap.htm
Colorectal cancer 150,000 cases diagnosed per year (i.e., your chances are 1/18) > 50,000 deaths (2nd to lung cancer) Early detection key >90% 5 year survival with early detection 60% if it has spread locally <10% if it has metastasized Data from ACS
Colorectal cancer treatment 1. Surgical removal of tumor This can be followed by either Radiation or chemotherapy (fluorouracil) 3. Chemotherapy also used to slow the progress of metastatic disease Data from ACS
Colon cancer genetics 95% of cases sporadic (no genetic history) HNPCC 3% of all cases. Defects in mismatch repair. Familial adenomatous polyposis (FAP) 1% of all colon cancers Caused by mutation in a single gene = APC
Familial Adenomatous Polyposis (FAP)
Inheriting an APC mutation dramatically increases Your risk of developing colorectal cancer 300-1000 polyps by age 30 100% risk of colon cancer by age 40 www.myriadtests.com
Until recently the only treatment Was to surgically remove the colon Treatment with an aspirin-like drug called celecoxib (a COX2 inhibitor) led to a 25% reduction in polyp number , and the remaining polyps shrank. The hope is this will allow doctors to Delay surgery till later in life Steinbeck et al. New England Journal of Medicine 342, 1946 (2000).
Adenomatous Polyposis Coli (APC) tumor suppressor mutated in FAP and in 70% of sporadic cases of colon cancer colon polyps
APC mutations are the earliest event in the development of the tumor
To find clues to APC’s function they went fishing for partners APC Cell extract
When they went fishing with APC, they pulled out Armadillo Armadillo APC (ß-catenin)
Eric Wieschaus and Christiane Nüsslein-Volhard used genetics to identify proteins that set up the embryonic body plan
The mighty fruit fly
How is the body plan specified? Egg ---> animal in 24 hours!
Wieschaus and Nüsslein-Volhard removed single genes and looked for effects on the body plan
Wingless signaling specifies cell fates in the ventral epidermis wild type arm mutant
Wingless signal influences the fates of neighboring cells
Elaine Fuch’s Hair Club for Men Rub ß-catenin here! Before After
Wingless signaling modulates the stability of Armadillo protein Level of Wg signal Armadillo
In the absence of APC, levels of Armadillo/ß-catenin rise dramatically APC mutant Wild-type
Phosphorylation of Armadillo/ß-catenin By GSK3 creates a binding site for an E3 ubiquitin ligase
APC is a complex protein 15 AA rpts 20 AA rpts Arm Repeats SAMP rpts Arm repeats protein-protein interaction motif also found in Arm !5 and 20 amino acids repeats bind to Arm SAMP repeats bind Axin
Arm Repeats APC is a complex protein 15 AA rpts 20 AA rpts Arm Repeats SAMP rpts MCR All tumors carry one allele that makes A truncated APC protein And truncations almost always occur in the “mutation cluster region” (MCR)
A quick look at colon architecture Villus Differentiated cells Proliferating cells Crypt
Begin with colon cancer cell line in which the Wnt pathway is ON Add an inducible dominant negative form of TCF4 that turns the Wnt pathway OFF Look for genes whose transcription is regulated by Wnt signaling Hans Clevers
The genes turned ON by Wnt signaling are expressed in crypts and those that are turned OFF are expressed in villi Gene turned ON by Wnt Gene turned OFF by Wnt signal
The genes turned on by Wnt signaling are expressed in crypts and those that are turned off are expressed in villi Gene turned ON by Wnt Gene turned OFF by Wnt signal
Wnt signaling turns OFF the transcription of an key cell cycle regulator: the CDK inhibitor p21 mRNA
The effect on p21 expression is indirectly mediated by the transcription factor c-myc. Transcription of the myc gene is directly regulated By TCF/beta-catenin
Let’s put this together to form a picture of normal colon biology and how it is perturbed by APC mutations As cells migrate Away from the crypt, they differentiate Cells that receive them Become stem cells Stromal cells send Wnt signals