Familial adenomatous polyposis

Common card · No. 400487

Familial adenomatous polyposis (FAP) is an autosomal dominant inherited condition in which numerous adenomatous polyps form mainly in the epithelium of the large intestine. While these polyps start out benign, malignant transformation into colon cancer occurs when they are left untreated. Besides classical FAP, there is one attenuated FAP variant (originally called hereditary flat adenoma syndrome) are caused by APC gene defects on chromosome 5. While another polyposis-related syndrome, MUTYH-associated polyposis(MAP), is caused by defect in the MUTYH gene on chromosome 1, rather than APC gene. The root cause of FAP is understood to be a genetic mutation—a change in the body's tumour suppressor genes that prevent the development of tumours. The change allows numerous cells of the intestinal wall to develop into potentially cancerous polyps when they would usually reach the end of their life; inevitably, one or more will eventually progress and give rise to cancer (7% risk by age 21, rising...

Read on Wikipedia · Image Samir at English Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 3.0