Abstract
Loss of integrity and cumulative changes in the cellular genome is a hallmark of the multistep process of cancer which progressively leads to uncontrolled cell growth and metastasis (1–3). Genome loss of integrity, genome instability, structural and numerical chromosome aberrations, and aneuploidy are interchangeable concepts and related experimental parameters. They are probably connected to one of the historic hallmarks of cancer (back to the first two decades of this century) that was represented by the observations that tumor cells were characterized by large hyperchromatic nuclei with excess of DNA and by abnormal mitoses (4,5). Genetic alterations appear to be linked to chromosomal aberrations and aneuploidy in cancer cells (6–11), but a cause-effect relationship is still unproven. The large number of genetic and chromosome changes detected by molecular biology, classical cytogenetics and, more recently, by chromosome painting and interphase cytogenetics using fluorescence in situ hybridization (12,13), appears simply too difficult to be set in a cause-effect relationship. An initial preneoplastic genetic event predisposing to more generalized disruption of the genome has been postulated (1). Fragility and instability of the chromosomes may imply a variety of inherited and acquired genetic mechanisms as well as the influence of environmental agents (14–16). Probably, specific genetic changes direct the process of aneuploidization. However, this is not the common view since many scientists believe that aneuploidy is an epiphenomenon of random origin.
Keywords
- Colorectal Adenoma
- Colorectal Adenocarcinoma
- Heterogeneity Mechanism
- Abnormal Mitosis
- Classical Cytogenetic
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Giaretti, W. (1997). Aneuploidy and Heterogeneity Mechanisms in Human Colorectal Tumor Progression. In: Mihich, E., Hartwell, L. (eds) Genomic Instability and Immortality in Cancer. Pezcoller Foundation Symposia, vol 8. Springer, Boston, MA. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4615-5365-6_4
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