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Risk factors and random chances

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The discovery that the estimated number of stem-cell divisions in a tissue correlates with cancer incidence suggests that the varying probability of developing cancer in different tissues is mostly down to random mutations.

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Figure 1: Mechanisms of cancer development.

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Correspondence to Dominik Wodarz or Ann G. Zauber.

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Wodarz, D., Zauber, A. Risk factors and random chances. Nature 517, 563–564 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1038/517563a

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