GI highlights from the literature

Basic scienceGenetic progression from Barrett's oesophagus to adenocarcinoma Stachler MD, Taylor-Weiner A, Peng S, et al. Paired exome analysis of Barrett's esophagus and adenocarcinoma. Nat Genet 2015;47:1047–55. While most patients with Barrett's oesophagus never progress to cancer, understanding the evolutionary processes in those that are at higher cancer risk and predicting their response to therapy is crucial. Here, the authors demonstrate with exome sequencing that patients with non-dysplastic Barrett's tissue surprisingly show a mutation rate comparable with prostate, breast and colon cancers. Furthermore, the mutation rate appeared similar to Barrett's dysplasia and adenocarcinoma, suggesting that most mutations (particularly in TP53) occur early in the neoplastic progression. In contrast, genomic alterations (amplifications and deletions) were a later event, primarily occurring at the point of initiation of adenocarcinoma. Two groups of patients were identified; those that showed a common ancestry (of varying degrees) between non-dysplastic Barrett's and those...
Source: Gut - Category: Gastroenterology Authors: Tags: JournalScan Source Type: research