Cahill D P, Kinzler K W, Vogelstein B, Lengauer C
Program in Human Genetics, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD 21231, USA.
Trends Cell Biol. 1999 Dec;9(12):M57-60.
Genetic instability has long been hypothesized to be a cardinal feature of cancer. Recent work has strengthened the proposal that mutational alterations conferring instability occur early during tumour formation. The ensuing genetic instability drives tumour progression by generating mutations in oncogenes and tumour-suppressor genes. These mutant genes provide cancer cells with a selective growth advantage, thereby leading to the clonal outgrowth of a tumour. Here, we discuss the role of genetic instability in tumour formation and outline future work necessary to substantiate the genetic instability hypothesis.
长期以来，人们一直假设基因不稳定是癌症的一个主要特征。最近的研究进一步支持了这样一种观点，即导致不稳定的突变改变在肿瘤形成的早期就会发生。随之而来的基因不稳定通过在癌基因和肿瘤抑制基因中产生突变来驱动肿瘤进展。这些突变基因赋予癌细胞选择性生长优势，从而导致肿瘤的克隆性生长。在这里，我们讨论基因不稳定在肿瘤形成中的作用，并概述证实基因不稳定假说所需的未来研究工作。
