Molecular Diagnosis of Familial Adenomatous Polyposis

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Abstract
Familial adenomatous polyposis is an inherited disease characterized by multiple colorectal tumors. The diagnosis has classically been based on the detection of multiple colorectal adenomas. The recent identification of germline mutations of the APC gene in patients with familial adenomatous polyposis makes presymptomatic molecular diagnosis possible, but the widespread distribution of the many mutations within this very large gene have heretofore made the search for such mutations impractical. We describe a novel approach that allows molecular genetic diagnosis in the majority of patients with the disease.