Jäger et al. examined whole cancer genomes of 402 samples of diverse cancer types and discovered that the inactive X chromosome (Xi) in the tumours of female cancer patients has a high rate of somatic mutation. Hypermutation of Xi seemed to be cancer-specific, and hypermutation was not observed on the active X chromosome. Furthermore, Xi had a higher mutation rate than autosomes, and various analyses showed that hypermutation of Xi occurs early in tumorigenesis and by the same mutational processes that lead to autosomal mutations.
References
Jäger, N. et al. Hypermutation of the inactive X chromosome is a frequent event in cancer. Cell 155, 567–581 (2013)
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Seton-Rogers, S. X marks the spot. Nat Rev Cancer 13, 823 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1038/nrc3644
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/nrc3644