Cookies on this website

We use cookies to ensure that we give you the best experience on our website. If you click 'Accept all cookies' we'll assume that you are happy to receive all cookies and you won't see this message again. If you click 'Reject all non-essential cookies' only necessary cookies providing core functionality such as security, network management, and accessibility will be enabled. Click 'Find out more' for information on how to change your cookie settings.

Many colorectal cancers (CRCs) develop in genetically susceptible individuals most of whom are not carriers of germ line mismatch repair or APC gene mutations and much of the heritable risk of CRC appears to be attributable to the co-inheritance of multiple low-risk variants. The accumulated experience to date in identifying this class of susceptibility allele has highlighted the need to conduct statistically and methodologically rigorous studies and the need for the multi-centre collaboration. This has been the motivation for establishing the COGENT (COlorectal cancer GENeTics) consortium which now includes over 20 research groups in Europe, Australia, the Americas, China and Japan actively working on CRC genetics. Here, we review the rationale for identifying low-penetrance variants for CRC and the current and future challenges for COGENT.

Original publication

DOI

10.1093/mutage/ger059

Type

Journal article

Journal

Mutagenesis

Publication Date

03/2012

Volume

27

Pages

143 - 151

Addresses

Division of Genetics and Epidemiology, Institute of Cancer Research, 15 Cotswold Road, Sutton, Surrey SM2 5NG, UK. richard.houlston@icr.ac.uk

Keywords

members of COGENT, Humans, Colorectal Neoplasms, Genetic Predisposition to Disease, Polymorphism, Genetic, Genes, Neoplasm