A study by investigators from the Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) Cancer Center has found that, contrary to common assumptions, the fact that a specific genetic mutation frequently arises in particular tumors may not signify that the mutation drives cancer development and progression. Their article published in Science describes how DNA single strands that fold back on themselves in what is called a "hairpin" structure appear highly sensitive to mutation by a gene-editing enzyme expressed in many cancers. But many of these mutation "hotspots" occur in genes that are totally unrelated to cancers, including many in noncoding areas of the genome.
* This article was originally published here
