Tissue culture assays in familial polyposis coli: observations and considerations.

The present studies illustrate the utility of biomarkers that occur systemically in two of the relatively frequent, dominantly inherited, precancer disorders: adenomatosis of the colon and rectum (ACR) and neurofibromatosis (NF). These biomarkers provide insight about the initiated cell phenotype, systemic abnormalities and cancer progression, genetic determinants of cancer predisposition, and clinical-genetic considerations. In conjunction with clinical signs, these biomarkers can be used to determine gene expression and gene penetrance. Biomarkers are currently being used in a study of a kindred in which, remarkably, a patient manifested both ACR and NF. Extension of these studies may permit the early detection of cancer in the general population, including "cancer-cured" individuals.