Genetic pathways to colorectal cancer.

Abstract
The first known cancer family would be described today as having hereditary nonpolyposis colorectal cancer, in which, as in familial adenomatous polyposis, the emergence of a malignancy requires a seemingly unlikely sequence of somatic mutations, superimposed on a risk-conveying inheritance. Events identified in the inherited syndromes are proving crucial in learning precisely how nonfamilial tumors develop