Somatic Mutational Component of Human Carcinogenesis.

摘要

Somatic mutation is the prototypic mechanism for the immediate, irreversible, additive effects that are characteristic of initiation of carcinogenesis. Such genetic changes are often used, explicitly or implicitly, as the transition device between stages in quantitative multistage models designed to describe carcinogenesis. Recent developments in the genetics of cancer and in somatic mutagenesis greatly increase our understanding of these processes, and are worth reviewing in the context of such multistage modelling. 23 refs.