Microdissection-based allelotyping: a novel technique to determine the temporal sequence and biological aggressiveness of colorectal cancer.

Pathologic staging in colorectal adenocarcinoma (CA) is based on the concept that the timing of metastatic tumor spread is directly related to the depth of the primary tumor invasion. To evaluate the temporal sequence of CA metastasis, we performed microdissection mutational profiling at multiple microscopic sites of primary and metastatic CA specimens. Twenty-one cases of CA were selected from fixed-tissue archives.