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  • RESEARCH HIGHLIGHT

Huge cancer database yields genetic clues to metastasis

Scientists sift through samples from more than 25,000 people to identify a host of mutations that could make tumours more aggressive.
Frontal view of a coloured chest X-ray of a patient with adenocarcinoma of the right lung, shown as a yellow mass.

A type of tumour called a lung adenocarcinoma (yellow; artificially coloured) is more likely to spread if it contains certain genomic changes. Credit: Pr Michel Brauner/ISM/Science Photo Library

Scientists have identified a trove of genetic mutations that are linked to the development of metastatic cancer1. These mutations could act as cancer cells’ navigation apps, providing directions that allow malignancies to spread from one organ to another.

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Nature 602, 187 (2022)

doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-022-00236-x

References

  1. Nguyen, B. et al. Cell https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cell.2022.01.003 (2022).

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