The significance of aberrant crypt foci in understanding the pathogenesis of colon cancer

Animal models provide a unique opportunity to study the biology of the disease process, and to test hypotheses linking environmental factors in the etiology and prevention of colon cancer. The concept of cancer prevention is to retard, regress or eliminate precancerous lesions. To actuate this concept, it is important to identify and enumerate preneoplastic lesions of various growth dimensions. The study of the precancerous stages in the colon is possible by the identification of aberrant crypt foci (ACF) in rodent colons treated with a carcinogen. The growth, morphological and molecular features of ACF support the contention that ACF are putative preneoplastic lesions. The ACF system is used extensively to identify modulators of colon carcinogenesis. Among the various endpoints being used in cancer research, ACF are the only endpoints which provides a quantitative approach to assess the disease process and the underlying cellular and molecular events as affected by cancer preventive or promoting agents. Many dietary components have been classified as tumor promoters or inhibitors based on their ability to change the tumor outcome. Whether they affect the growth of very early or advanced preneoplastic lesions is not known and can be explored by using ACF system. This information will provide a better understanding of cancer pathogenesis and will lead to the development of different cancer preventive strategies for high-risk individuals and the general population. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved.