Cancer may require simpler genetic mutations than previously thought
Friday, May 25, 2012 - 17:30
in Biology & Nature
Scientists have long known that cancer cells can proliferate by deleting both copies of the tumor suppressor genes that would otherwise kill them. Now research shows they can also grow by deleting single copies of the genes, especially when clusters of those genes appear randomly on a chromosome. The discovery sheds new light on tumorigenesis and explains why large genomic deletions show up so often in cancer cells.