Hereditary colorectal cancer

CN02-02

Colorectal cancer in developed countries has an incidence worldwide of more than a million cases annually. It is the second leading cause of cancer death in the United States. An anticipated ~155,000 people will be diagnosed with colorectal cancer, and an estimated 55,000 individuals will die in the U.S. this year. Genetics has made important contributions to the identification of individuals who are at increased risk for colorectal cancer. This session will review advances in the field of colorectal cancer prevention. These advances include new risk assessment models for Lynch Syndrome cancer risk, improved approaches to understanding the role of missense mutations in colorectal cancer susceptibility, and the discovery of novel susceptibility loci from genetic association studies.