Figure 3From: Numbers of mutations to different types of colorectal cancer Multistage versus tumor progression models. In multistage models, early mutations fail to confer visible changes in phenotype because they accumulate throughout life from birth. Tumors appear only after a cell has accumulated a critical number or combination of oncogenic mutations. In contrast, the adenoma-cancer sequence suggests most oncogenic mutations confer stepwise incremental changes in phenotype and accumulate much later in life in visible tumors.Back to article page