Advances in the diagnosis and treatment of familial colorectal cancer type X

Colorectal cancer is a major cause of morbidity and mortality in China and also in the whole world. Up to 20% of CRCs have evidence of a familial component and about 5% are thought to be due to the well-characterized inherited mutations. In some of the families fulfilling the Amsterdam criteria for hereditary non-polyposis colorectal cancer, colorectal cancers are microsatellite stable and DNA mismatchrepair (MMR) gene mutations are not found. These families were designated as familial colorectal cancer type X (FCCTX). This review will give a full-scale view of FCCTX among multi-dimension, based on the recent articles all over the world. Key words: Colorectal neoplasms; Lynch syndrome; Familial colorectal cancer type X; DNA mismatch repair