Abstract
It has long been considered that genetic instability is an integral component of human neoplasia1–3. In a small fraction of tumours, mismatch repair deficiency leads to a microsatellite instability at the nucleotide sequence level4,5. In other tumours, an abnormal chromosome number (aneuploidy) has suggested an instability, but the nature and magnitude of the postulated instability is a matter of conjecture. We show here that colorectal tumours without microsatellite instability exhibit a striking defect in chromosome segregation, resulting in gains or losses in excess of 10 –2 per chromosome per generation. This form of chromosomal instability reflected a continuing cellular defect that persisted throughout the lifetime of the tumour cell and was not simply related to chromosome number. While microsatellite instability is a recessive trait6,7, chromosomal instability appeared to be dominant. These data indicate that persistent genetic instability may be critical for the development of all colorectal cancers, and that such instability can arise through two distinct pathways.
This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution
Access options
Subscribe to this journal
Receive 51 print issues and online access
$199.00 per year
only $3.90 per issue
Buy this article
- Purchase on Springer Link
- Instant access to full article PDF
Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Loeb, L. Mutator phenotype may be required for multistage carcinogenesis. Cancer Res. 51, 3075–3079 (1991).
Hartwell, L. Defects in a cell cycle checkpoint may be responsible for the genomic instability of cancer cells. Cell 71, 543–546 (1992).
Heim, S. & Mitelman, F. Cancer Cytogenetics (Liss, New York, 1987).
Marra, G. & Boland, C. R. Hereditary nonpolyposis colorectal cancer: the syndrome, the genes, and historical perspectives. J. Natl Cancer Inst. 87, 1114–1125 (1995).
Bhattacharyya, N. P., Skandalis, A., Ganesh, A., Groden, J. & Meuth, M. Mutator phenotypes in human colorectal carcinoma cell lines. Proc. Natl Acad. Sci. USA 87, 7555–7559 (1990).
Koi, M. et al. Human chromosome 3 corrects mismatch repair deficiency and microsatellite instability and reduces N-methyl-N’-N-nitrosoguanidine tolerance in colon tumor cells with homozygous hMLHl mutation. Cancer Res. 54, 4302–4312 (1994).
Casares, S., lonov, Y., Ge, H.-Y., Standbridge, E. & Perucho, M. The microsatellite mutator phenotype of colon cancer cells is often recessive. Oncogene 11, 2303–2310 (1995).
Lichter, P., Boyle, A. L., Cremer, T. & Ward, D. Analysis of genes and chromosomes by nonisotopic in situ hybridization. Gen. Anal. Tech. Appl. 8, 24–35 (1991).
Hartwell, L., Weinert, T., Kadyk, L. & Garvik, B. Cell cycle checkpoints, genomic integrity, and cancer. Cold Spring Harb. Symp. Quant. Biol. 59, 259–263 (1994).
Mayer, V. W. & Aguilera, A. High levels of chromosome instability in polyploids of Saccharomyces cerevisiae. Mut. Res. 231, 177–186 (1990).
Shackney, S. et al. Model for the genetic evolution of human solid tumors. Cancer Res. 49, 3344–3354 (1989).
Tanaka, K. et al. Suppression of tumorigenicity in human colon carcinoma cells by introduction of normal chromosome 5 or 18. Nature 349, 340–342 (1991).
Goyette, M. C. et al. Progression of colorectal cancer is associated with multiple tumor suppressor gene defects but inhibition of tumorigeneity is accomplished by correction of any single defect via chromosome transfer. Mol. Cell. Biol. 12, 1387–1395 (1992).
Rodrigues, N. R. et al. p53 mutations in colorectal cancer. Proc. Natl Acad. Sci. USA 87, 7555–7559 (1990).
Shibata, D., Peinado, M. A., lonov, Y., Malkhosyan, S. & Perucho, M. Genomic instability in repeated sequences is an early somatic event in colorectal tumorigenesis that persists after transformation. Nature Genet. 6, 273–281 (1994).
Huang, J. et al. APC mutations in colorectal tumors with mismatch repair deficiency. Proc. Natl Acad. Sci. USA 93, 9049–9054 (1996).
Aaltonen, L. A. et al. Clues to the pathogenesis of familial colorectal cancer. Science 260, 812–816 (1993).
Bocker, M. et al. Genomic instability in colorectal carcinomas: comparison of different evaluation methods and their biological significance. J. Path. 179, 15–19 (1996).
Livingston, L. R. et al. Altered cell cycle arrest and gene amplification potential accompany loss of wild-type p53. Cell 70, 923–935 (1992).
Yin, Y., Tainsky, M. A., Bischoff, F. Z., Strong, L. C. & Wahl, G. M. Wild-type p53 restores cell cycle control and inhibits gene amplification in cells with mutant p53 alleles. Cell 70, 937–948 (1992).
Cottu, P. H. et al. Inverse correlation between RER+ status and p53 mutation in colorectal cancer cell lines. Oncogene 13, 2727–2730 (1996).
Papadopoulos, N. et al. Mutation of the mutL homolog in hereditary colon cancer. Science 263, 1625–1629 (1994).
Papadopoulos, N. et al. Mutations of GTBP in genetically unstable cells. Science 268, 1915–1917 (1995).
Umar, A. et al. Defective mismatch repair in extracts of colorectal and endometrial cancer lines exhibiting microsatellite instability. J. Biol. Chem. 269, 14367–14370 (1994).
Hollstein, M. et al. Database of p53 gene somatic mutations in human tumors and cell lines. Nucleic Acids Res. 22, 3551–3555 (1994).
Ried, T. et al. Specific metaphase and interphase detection of the breakpoint region in 8q24 of Burkitt lymphoma cells by triple-color fluorescence in situ hybridization. Genes Chrom. Cancer 4, 69–74 (1992).
Lichter, P. & Cremer, T. in Human Cytogenetics: A Practical Approach (eds Rooney, D. E. & Czepulkowski, B. H.) 157–192 (IRL, Oxford, 1992).
Lengauer, C. et al. Large-scale isolation of human Ip36-specific PI clones and their use for fluorescence in situ hybridization. Gen. Anal Tech. Appl. 11, 140–147 (1994).
Ried, T., Baldini, A., Rand, T. C. & Ward, D. C. Simultaneous visualization of seven different DNA probes by in situ hybridization using combinatorial fluorescence and digital imaging microscopy. Proc. NatlAcad. Sci. USA 89, 1388–1392 (1992).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Lengauer, C., Kinzler, K. & Vogelstein, B. Genetic instability in colorectal cancers. Nature 386, 623–627 (1997). https://doi.org/10.1038/386623a0
Received:
Accepted:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/386623a0
This article is cited by
-
MYCT1 inhibits hematopoiesis in diffuse large B-cell lymphoma by suppressing RUNX1 transcription
Cellular & Molecular Biology Letters (2024)
-
ARL4C is associated with epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition in colorectal cancer
BMC Cancer (2023)
-
Can precancerous stem cells be risk markers for malignant transformation in the oral mucosa?
Cellular & Molecular Biology Letters (2023)
-
A mitotic NADPH upsurge promotes chromosome segregation and tumour progression in aneuploid cancer cells
Nature Metabolism (2023)
-
Twenty years of merotelic kinetochore attachments: a historical perspective
Chromosome Research (2023)
Comments
By submitting a comment you agree to abide by our Terms and Community Guidelines. If you find something abusive or that does not comply with our terms or guidelines please flag it as inappropriate.