Molecular subtypes in stage II-III colon cancer defined by genomic instability: early recurrence-risk associated with a high copy-number variation and loss of RUNX3 and CDKN2A.

Objective: We sought to investigate various molecular subtypes defined by genomic instability that may be related to early death and recurrence in colon cancer.

Methods: We sought to investigate various molecular subtypes defined by instability at microsatellites (MSI), changes in methylation patterns (CpG island methylator phenotype, CIMP) or copy number variation (CNV) in 8 genes. Stage II-III colon cancers (n = 64) were investigated by methylation-specific multiplex ligated probe amplification (MS-MLPA).