Abstract

Colorectal cancer (CRC) is one of the most common malignancies in the world. The development and progression of CRC is a multistep process, which involves many dietary and environmental factors. A great number of oncogenes, tumour suppressor genes and DNA repair genes contribute to molecular and biological features of CRC, providing us much essential information about the pathogenesis of this disease. Loss of heterozygosity (LOH) of tumour suppressor genes was observed at various loci on different chromosomes like 1p, 1q, 4q, 5q, 8p, 9q, 11q, 12p, 14q, 15q, 17p, 17q, 18p, 18q and 22q in CRCs. In this review, the loss of heterozygosity in patients with colorectal cancer and the interrelationship between tumour suppressor genes and colorectal cancer initiation and progression are discussed.

Key words: Colorectal cancer, tumour suppressor gene, loss of heterozygosity (LOH).