Oncogene Mutations in Cancer and Dysplasia Associated with Inflammatory Bowel Disease

Chronic inflammatory bowel disease (IBO) predisposes affectedindividuals to the development of invasive colon cancer. Increased cancer riskhas been seen in ulcerative colitis and Crohn's disease in Western societies aswell as in schistosomal colitis in China. In this study it was found that thefrequency of the 12th codon of c-Ki-ras, as well as the specific amino acidsubstitutions, were similar in sporadic colon cancers, cancers associated withulcerative colitis in the United States, and colon cancers found in patients withschistosomal colitis in Jiangsu province in China. Further, activating mutationsof codon 12 of e-Ki-ras were found in high grade dysplastic lesions in chroniculcerative colitis. The latter finding indicates that some dysplasias are clonalproliferative lesions with genetic characteristics associated with invasive cancer