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Colorectal cancer

Is the new era of colorectal cancer classification finally here?

Colorectal cancer is a heterogeneous disease, with at least three well-known major, molecularly defined groups: the chromosomal instable, the microsatellite instable and the CpG island methylator phenotype. Although these groups differ in pathology, outcome and response to therapy, this classification is not used in clinical management. Two recent studies might change this perception.

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Figure 1: Various ways of classifying colorectal adenocarcinomas.

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Correspondence to Iris D. Nagtegaal.

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Nagtegaal, I., van Krieken, J. Is the new era of colorectal cancer classification finally here?. Nat Rev Gastroenterol Hepatol 10, 391–393 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1038/nrgastro.2013.90

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