Figure 1.

Windows of opportunity for preventive intervention for colon cancer. Three potential windows of opportunity were defined: (1) prior to tissue initiation (Apc mutation); (2) after initiation but prior to adenoma formation; (3) and after formation of the first adenoma. To examine these windows of opportunity, nonneoplastic tissue from mice representing each stage of early tumorigenesis was evaluated and pro-tumorigenic processes were characterized.