K-ras, Cox-2 and membrane β-catenin overexpression may be a marker of inflammatory bowel disease-associated intestinal cancer

It has been known since 1928 that patients with ulcerative colitis (UC) are at increased risk of developing colorectal cancer (CRC). Regular colonoscopic surveillance with multiple colonic biopsies is the mainstay of CRC prevention in UC, although it has not been proven to reduce mortality because of CRC and the number of biopsies necessary are questionable. Our aim was to determine the protein expression profile of UC associated CRC in the tumor and tumor-free tissue in comparison with mucosal biopsies from UC patients with long-lasting disease in order to find markers which suggest a high risk for CRC. Methods…