TY - JOUR
T1 - Stem cell divisions, somatic mutations, cancer etiology, and cancer prevention
AU - Tomasetti, Cristian
AU - Li, Lu
AU - Vogelstein, Bert
N1 - Funding Information:
This work was made possible through the support of grants from the John Templeton Foundation, the Virginia and D. K. Ludwig Fund for Cancer Research, the Lustgarten Foundation for Pancreatic Cancer Research, The Sol Goldman Center for Pancreatic Cancer Research, and NIH grants P30-CA006973, R37-CA43460, and P50-CA62924.
PY - 2017/3/24
Y1 - 2017/3/24
N2 - Cancers are caused by mutations that may be inherited, induced by environmental factors, or result from DNA replication errors (R).We studied the relationship between the number of normal stem cell divisions and the risk of 17 cancer types in 69 countries throughout the world. The data revealed a strong correlation (median = 0.80) between cancer incidence and normal stem cell divisions in all countries, regardless of their environment. The major role of R mutations in cancer etiology was supported by an independent approach, based solely on cancer genome sequencing and epidemiological data, which suggested that R mutations are responsible for two-thirds of the mutations in human cancers. All of these results are consistent with epidemiological estimates of the fraction of cancers that can be prevented by changes in the environment. Moreover, they accentuate the importance of early detection and intervention to reduce deaths from the many cancers arising from unavoidable R mutations.
AB - Cancers are caused by mutations that may be inherited, induced by environmental factors, or result from DNA replication errors (R).We studied the relationship between the number of normal stem cell divisions and the risk of 17 cancer types in 69 countries throughout the world. The data revealed a strong correlation (median = 0.80) between cancer incidence and normal stem cell divisions in all countries, regardless of their environment. The major role of R mutations in cancer etiology was supported by an independent approach, based solely on cancer genome sequencing and epidemiological data, which suggested that R mutations are responsible for two-thirds of the mutations in human cancers. All of these results are consistent with epidemiological estimates of the fraction of cancers that can be prevented by changes in the environment. Moreover, they accentuate the importance of early detection and intervention to reduce deaths from the many cancers arising from unavoidable R mutations.
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U2 - 10.1126/science.aaf9011
DO - 10.1126/science.aaf9011
M3 - Article
C2 - 28336671
AN - SCOPUS:85016121430
SN - 0036-8075
VL - 355
SP - 1330
EP - 1334
JO - Science
JF - Science
IS - 6331
ER -