Cancer as an evolutionary process at the cell level: an epidemiological perspective.

Abstract excerpt

Germ-line mutations (present in all cells) in genes that are crucial for the cell cycle cause cancer only in specific cell lines (e.g. mismatch repair genes in the colon; BRCA1-2 in breast and ovary; other cancers in Bloom syndrome, neurofibromatosis and xeroderma pigmentosum). The mutation rate of genes other than mismatch repair or p53 is the same in colon cancer and in normal cells, indicating that a 'mutator...

Topics

Share this publication in a Topic to start or enrich a Post.

• Share to Adaptation, Biological
• Share to Biological Evolution
• Share to Cell Transformation, Neoplastic