99 / 1173
Cancer is a genetic disease
• Disease involving dynamic changes in the genome
– point mutations
– gene amplification
– chromosome instability
– deletions, silencing
• 2 classes of cancer genes:
– Oncogenes
– Tumor suppressors
•
“
Driving
”
mutation:
– Confers growth advantage
– Causative of cancer
•
“
Passenger
”
mutation:
– No growth advantage
– No causative role in cancer