TY - JOUR
T1 - Limitations of the driver/passenger model in cancer prevention
AU - Kuhner, Mary K.
AU - Kostadinov, Rumen
AU - Reid, Brian J.
N1 - Funding Information:
M.K. Kuhner and B.J. Reid were supported by NIH grant P01 CA91955. B.J. Reid was supported by NIH grant R01 CA179949. R. Kostadinov was supported by American Cancer Society Research Scholar grant 120237.
Publisher Copyright:
©2016 AACR. American Association for Cancer Research.
PY - 2016/5
Y1 - 2016/5
N2 - Mutations detected in cancers are often divided into "drivers" and "passengers."We suggest that this classification is potentially misleading for purposes of early detection and prevention. Specifically, some mutations are frequent in tumors and thus appear to be drivers, but are poor predictors of cancer; other mutations are individually rare and thus appear to be passengers, but may collectively explain a large proportion of risk. The assumptions bundled into the terms "driver" and "passenger" can lead to misunderstandings of neoplastic progression, with unintended consequences including overdiagnosis, overtreatment, and failure to identify the true sources of risk. We argue that samples from healthy, benign, or neoplastic tissues are critical for evaluating the risk of future cancer posed bymutations in a given gene. Cancer Prev Res; 9(5); 335-8.
AB - Mutations detected in cancers are often divided into "drivers" and "passengers."We suggest that this classification is potentially misleading for purposes of early detection and prevention. Specifically, some mutations are frequent in tumors and thus appear to be drivers, but are poor predictors of cancer; other mutations are individually rare and thus appear to be passengers, but may collectively explain a large proportion of risk. The assumptions bundled into the terms "driver" and "passenger" can lead to misunderstandings of neoplastic progression, with unintended consequences including overdiagnosis, overtreatment, and failure to identify the true sources of risk. We argue that samples from healthy, benign, or neoplastic tissues are critical for evaluating the risk of future cancer posed bymutations in a given gene. Cancer Prev Res; 9(5); 335-8.
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84969972242&partnerID=8YFLogxK
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/citedby.url?scp=84969972242&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1158/1940-6207.CAPR-15-0343
DO - 10.1158/1940-6207.CAPR-15-0343
M3 - Review article
C2 - 26932841
AN - SCOPUS:84969972242
VL - 9
SP - 335
EP - 338
JO - Cancer Prevention Research
JF - Cancer Prevention Research
SN - 1940-6207
IS - 5
ER -