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Nature Reviews Genetics 10, 4–5 (1 January 2009) | doi:10.1038/nrg2512

Genomics: Distinguishing drivers from passengers

Meera Swami

Cancer cells are genetically diverse and contain a range of mutations, including both drivers that actively promote tumorigenesis and passengers that may not confer a selective advantage to a growing tumour, but are nonetheless commonly found. This poses the problem of how to identify the bona fide oncogenes or tumour suppressors in cancer genetic screens.