Shapiro James A
Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, University of Chicago, Chicago, IL 60637, USA.
Cancers (Basel). 2021 Mar 17;13(6):1358. doi: 10.3390/cancers13061358.
Cancer genomes evolve in a punctuated manner during tumor evolution. Abrupt genome restructuring at key steps in this evolution has been called "genome chaos." To answer whether widespread genome change is truly chaotic, this review (i) summarizes the limited number of cell and molecular systems that execute genome restructuring, (ii) describes the characteristic signatures of DNA changes that result from activity of those systems, and (iii) examines two cases where genome restructuring is determined to a significant degree by cell type or viral infection. The conclusion is that many restructured cancer genomes display sufficiently unchaotic signatures to identify the cellular systems responsible for major oncogenic transitions, thereby identifying possible targets for therapies to inhibit tumor progression to greater aggressiveness.
癌症基因组在肿瘤进化过程中以间断的方式演变。在这一进化的关键步骤中,突然的基因组重组被称为“基因组混乱”。为了回答广泛的基因组变化是否真的混乱,本综述(i)总结了执行基因组重组的有限数量的细胞和分子系统,(ii)描述了由这些系统的活性导致的DNA变化的特征性特征,以及(iii)研究了两个基因组重组在很大程度上由细胞类型或病毒感染决定的案例。结论是,许多重组的癌症基因组显示出足够不混乱的特征,以识别负责主要致癌转变的细胞系统,从而确定抑制肿瘤进展为更具侵袭性的可能治疗靶点。