Time Lapse to Cancer-Defining the transistion from polyp to cancer

In the US, CRC incidence has declined with uptake in colonoscopy for early detection and removal of polyps, the precursor lesion, can stop a cancer from developing but in spite of this, CRC remains the second leading cause of cancer death in the United States. One third of people who undergo screening colonoscopy will have adenomatous polyps, but less than 5% of the time are these polyps presumed to go on to develop into cancer. Why does one polyp develop into cancer while another one that looks very similar does not. In this proposal we will identify what molecular genetic changes in the genome, in the mRNA expression and genetic methylation patterns will distinguish a polyp that has already transformed into cancer from one that has not.