Segregating DNA lesions point to high selective advantage of tumor initiating cells.

ABSTRACT: The complications with identifying cells at the origin of cancer and tracking their early divisions impede studies of cancer initiation. Recently, it was shown that some DNA lesions generated by a pulse of damage-inducing mutagen persist over multiple rounds of replication. Segregation of DNA lesions in the early genealogy of an expanding clone leaves a statistically interpretable footprint of cancer initiating events. Specifically, it allows for estimating the number of cell divisions between the initiating DNA lesion and the most recent common ancestor of the tumor. Here, we analyze footprints of segregating lesions from a previously published experimental mouse system, as well as post-chemotherapy human metastatic tumors and the blood of chemotherapy treated patients. In all contexts, c

SUBMITTER: Seplyarskiy V 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12621763 | biostudies-literature | 2025 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature