Professor Vogelstein explains that colon cancers provide a good example of a type of tumor in which the genetic steps leading from the normal colon epethelial cell to a cancer, are reasonably well known.

Bert Vogelstein, M.D. is a Howard Hughes Medical Institute Investigator and the Clayton Professor of Oncology and Pathology at Johns Hopkins University. His research focuses on the identification and characterization of genes that cause colon cancer. This has led to the discovery of the APC gene – the "gatekeeper" in colon cancer development. “Colon cancers provide a good example of a type of tumor in which the genetic steps leading from the normal colon epethelial cell to a cancer, are reasonably well known. And it's important to point out that this is not a speedy process, it generally takes 20 to 40 years to get from a normal cell to a malignant tumor; a malignant tumor is the same as a cancer, it's just another name. And the reason it takes that long is because it requires all these mutations and in cells that have intact repair systems, it takes decades to develop all these mutations sequentially. In a patient who has an defective mismatch repair system it takes a much shorter period of time, which is why patients with Non-polyposis form of colon cancer develop it at an earlier age.“

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