Radiobiology 2016

Somatic mutations in cancer

Majority of coding sequence of 11 colorectal tumors: Total # mutated genes in 11 tumors: 769 Average # somatic protein coding mutations in 1 tumor: 77 Estimated # driving mutations in 1 tumor: 10

Minimal overlap in mutation spectrum between tumors.

Large number of “ passenger ” mutations. These do not contribute to tumorgenesis, co-selection of random events with the “ driving ” mutations.

From Wood et al., Science 2007