Association between recurrence of sporadic colorectal cancer, high level of microsatellite instability, and loss of heterozygosity at chromosome 18q.

Purpose: Microsatellite instability and loss of heterozygosity of chromosomes 18q, 8p, and 4p are genetic alterations commonly found in colorectal cancer. We investigated whether these genetic markers allow for the stratification of patients with Stage II to III colorectal cancer into groups with different recurrence risks, and with different prognoses.

Methods: Tumors of 113 patients were evaluated for loss of heterozygosity of chromosomes 18q, 8p, and 4p and for microsatellite instability by use of six microsatellite markers.