An Evolutionary Approach for Identifying Driver Mutations in Colorectal Cancer.

ABSTRACT: The traditional view of cancer as a genetic disease that can successfully be treated with drugs targeting mutant onco-proteins has motivated whole-genome sequencing efforts in many human cancer types. However, only a subset of mutations found within the genomic landscape of cancer is likely to provide a fitness advantage to the cell. Distinguishing such "driver" mutations from innocuous "passenger" events is critical for prioritizing the validation of candidate mutations in disease-relevant models. We design a novel statistical index, called the Hitchhiking Index, which reflects the probability that any observed candidate gene is a passenger alteration, given the frequency of alterations in a cross-sectional cancer sample set, and apply it to a mutational data set in colorectal cancer. Our

SUBMITTER: Foo J 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4575033 | biostudies-literature | 2015 Sep

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature