Hereditary Colorectal Cancer: State of the Art in Lynch Syndrome

Overview

Journal Cancers (Basel)

Publisher MDPI

Specialty Oncology

Date 2023 Jan 8

PMID 36612072

Authors

Antonio Nolano

Alessia Medugno

Silvia Trombetti

Raffaella Liccardo

Marina De Rosa

Paola Izzo

Francesca Duraturo

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

Hereditary non-polyposis colorectal cancer is also known as Lynch syndrome. Lynch syndrome is associated with pathogenetic variants in one of the mismatch repair (MMR) genes. In addition to colorectal cancer, the inefficiency of the MMR system leads to a greater predisposition to cancer of the endometrium and other cancers of the abdominal sphere. Molecular diagnosis is performed to identify pathogenetic variants in MMR genes. However, for many patients with clinically suspected Lynch syndrome, it is not possible to identify a pathogenic variant in MMR genes. Molecular diagnosis is essential for referring patients to specific surveillance to prevent the development of tumors related to Lynch syndrome. This review summarizes the main aspects of Lynch syndrome and recent advances in the field and, in particular, emphasizes the factors that can lead to the loss of expression of genes.

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