Within the past four years, the genetic cause of the Hereditary Nonpolyposis Colorectal Cancer Syndrome (HNPCC), also known as Lynch syndrome II, has been ascertained for the majority of kindreds affected with the disease (13). The molecular basis of HNPCC involves genetic instability resulting from defective mismatch repair (MMR). To date, six genes have been identified in humans that encode for proteins and appear to participate in the MMR process, including the mutS homologs GTBP, hMSH2, and hMSH3 and the mutL homologs hMLH1, hPMS1, and hPMS2 (2, 7, 11, 17, 20, 21, 22, 24). Germline mutations in four of these genes (hMSH2, hMLH1, hPMS1, and hPMS2) have been identified in HNPCC kindreds (2, 11, 13, 17, 24). Though the mutator defect that arises from the MMR deficiency can affect any DNA sequence, microsatellite sequences are particularly sensitive to MMR abnormalities (14). Microsatellite instability is therefore a useful indicator of defective MMR. In addition to its occurrence in virtually all tumors arising in HNPCC patients, Microsatellite instability is found in a small fraction of sporadic tumors with distinctive molecular and phenotypic properties (27).
HNPCC is inherited in an autosomal dominant fashion, so that the normal cells of affected family members contain one mutant allele of the relevant MMR gene (inherited from an affected parent) and one wild-type allele (inherited from the unaffected parent). During the early stages of tumor development, however, the wild-type allele is inactivated through a somatic mutation, leaving the cell with no functional MMR gene and resulting in a profound defect in MMR activity. Because a somatic mutation in addition to a germ-line mutation is required to generate defective MMR in the tumor cells, this mechanism is generally referred to as one involving “two hits,” analogous to the biallelic inactivation of tumor suppressor genes that initiate other hereditary cancers (11, 13, 25). In line with this two-hit mechanism, the non-neoplastic cells of HNPCC patients generally retain near normal levels of MMR activity due to the presence of the wild-type allele.