APC and colonic neoplasm: Thus, decreased rate of maturation of SCs along an NEC lineage would explain the relatively smaller size of the NEC population in colon tumors with mutant APC. Perhaps it is an alteration of feedback mechanisms that control the rate of NEC maturation that creates a maturation arrest or “bottleneck” effect, which is the mechanism that leads to SC overpopulation and contributes to the development of colon tumors.