Colorectal cancer has been identified as an appropriate candidate for early detection and treatment of both asymptomatic individuals and those at risk of the disease. The lifetime incidence of colorectal cancer among persons at average risk is sufficiently high to justify screening the general population. This review presents the latest strategies employed in early detection of the colorectal cancer. An ideal screening test should satisfy some basic

Pancreatic cancer has a well-known reputation as one of the leading causes of cancer deaths worldwide. Thus, acquisition of efficient approaches and markers for accurate detection at the earlier stages of the disease should be prioritized. We have been focusing on tumor suppressor genes (TSGs) activity in pancreatic cancer to find effective methods for its genetic diagnosis and/or treatment. In this study, we utilized the technique of micro-cell-mediated

A number of factors have recently led to a more conservative approach for middle or low rectal cancers, making possible sphincter preservation and reducing the number of abdomino perineal excisions of the rectum. We have performed a retrospective analysis on 510 patients operated on in our unit between 1994 and 2003 for rectal cancer. There were a number of 118 anterior resection of rectum; in 20 cases the TME has been performed and in 6 cases a

BACKGROUND: In a previous work, we demonstrated that loss of heterozygosity of 18q is a frequent event significantly associated with poor prognosis in pancreatic cancer. We hypothesized that restoration of heterozygosity of chromosome 18 in pancreatic cancer cells would reduce their tumorigenicity. This study was intended to provide functional evidence for the existence of new tumour suppressor gene(s) located on chromosome 18. METHOD: Restoration

To date, the events that mediate tumor progression in pancreatic cancer are still poorly understood. Cytogenetic, allelotype, and somatic cell hybrid studies in human pancreatic adenocarcinoma have suggested that chromosome 18 may carry tumor suppressor genes (TSGs), including SMAD4. We previously identified that LOH of 18q at the SMAD4 locus, along with LOHs on 17p and 12q, positively associated with poor prognoses of pancreatic cancer patients.

SMAD4 is a critical cofactor in signal transduction pathways activated in response to transforming growth factor-beta (TGF-beta)-related ligands, regulating cell growth and differentiation. The roles played by SMAD4 inactivation in tumours highlighted it as a tumour-suppressor gene. However, restoration of the TGF-beta antiproliferative pathway following SMAD4 gene transfer in null-tumour cell lines is controversial. Herein, we report the inhibitory

A number of lines of evidence have suggested that the long arm of chromosome 18 apart from SMAD4 may carry a tumor-suppressor gene(s) that plays a role in the early stage of pancreatic ductal carcinogenesis. Thus, adenovirus-mediated introduction of SMAD4 does not suppress in vitro growth in cells with completely inactivated SMAD4, and frequent loss of 18q at the SMAD4 locus is observed in pancreatic cancers but no abnormalities of the normal SMAD4

We demonstrated previously that restoration of chromosome 18 suppressed growth of pancreatic cancer cells in vitro, as well as that of tumors inoculated into nude mice. We also demonstrated that loss of 18q was associated with poor prognosis. Hence there is the possibility that the 18q arm harbors a gene(s) implicated in tumor progression and/or metastasis. In this study, we evaluated the effect of restoring chromosome 18 on metastasis in a few human

Several lines of evidence have suggested that the long arm of chromosome 12 may carry a tumor-suppressor gene(s) that plays a role in pancreatic ductal carcinogenesis. We have previously found a significant association between loss of heterozygosity of the 12q arm and a poor prognosis in pancreatic cancer patients. In this study, we introduced a normal copy of chromosome 12 into some pancreatic ductal carcinoma cells. Both anchorage-dependent and