Today’s Spotlight uses a scanning electron micrograph ‑ by Anne Weston, LRI, CRUK. Wellcome Images ‑ of a squamous cell carcinoma, a type of skin cancer. The cell has been frozen and split open to reveal its nucleus. The nucleus of the cell holds the DNA where mutations build up.
A typical cancer cell has thousands of mutations scattered throughout its genome and hundreds of mutated genes. However, only a handful of those genes, known as drivers, are responsible for cancerous traits such as uncontrolled growth. Cancer biologists have largely ignored the other mutations, believing they had little or no impact on cancer progression.
But a new study from MIT, Harvard University, the Broad Institute and Brigham and Women’s Hospital reveals, for the first time, that these so‑called passenger mutations are not just along for the ride.
Read full article.
A typical cancer cell has thousands of mutations scattered throughout its genome and hundreds of mutated genes. However, only a handful of those genes, known as drivers, are responsible for cancerous traits such as uncontrolled growth. Cancer biologists have largely ignored the other mutations, believing they had little or no impact on cancer progression.
But a new study from MIT, Harvard University, the Broad Institute and Brigham and Women’s Hospital reveals, for the first time, that these so‑called passenger mutations are not just along for the ride.
Read full article.