Dig Dis Sci  2000 Nov;45(11):2187-94 

No major difference in K-ras and p53 abnormalities in sporadic and hereditary
nonpolyposis colorectal adenomas.

Voskuil DW, Kampman E, van Geloof W, Grubben M, Kok F, van Muijen G, Nagengast
F, Vasen H, van't Veer P.

Division of Human Nutrition and Epidemiology, Wageningen University, The
Netherlands.

K-ras and p53 gene mutations are known to occur in high frequencies in sporadic
colorectal cancers, but findings are inconsistent in hereditary nonpolyposis
colorectal cancer (HNPCC). We compared K-ras codon 12 and 13 gene mutations and
p53 protein overexpression in 48 HNPCC (positive for Amsterdam criteria) and 59
sporadic colorectal adenomas, to examine whether they may represent similar or
different molecular pathways to cancer. In sporadic adenomas K-ras mutations
were detected in 32% and p53 overexpression in 31% of the cases. Similarly,
K-ras mutations and p53 overexpression were both found in 25% of HNPCC adenomas.
The frequencies of these abnormalities were not significantly different between
HNPCC and sporadic adenomas. When taking differences in adenoma size into
account, the frequencies were even more similar. In conclusion, these results
suggest a similar molecular pathway to adenomas in HNPCC and sporadic
carcinogenesis, with respect to involvement of K-ras and p53.

PMID: 11215737 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE]