There has been developed a set of slides depicting cancers categorized by a variety of metrics. We present a few here just for interest.
From Tomasetti and Vogelstein we have the chart showing the
risk of cancer by type based on the number of stem cell divisions. Namely
certain types of cancer arise from cells where there are many stem cell
divisions thus allowing for genetic errors.
In contrast we have a similar chart from which depicts
incidence versus methylation for various cancers. Methylation is a common
element of epigenetic cancers. It is interesting to compare these two charts.
Finally we have the chart depicting incidence versus the
number of somatic mutations in base pairs over a large stretch of DNA as
obtained from Yarchoan et al. This is a compelling chart is we look at cancer
from the perspective of mutations.
Thus we have three factors; number of stem cell generations,
methylations, and mutations of somatic cell locations in DNA. Thus we ask; what
is the most important?
Good question!
References
1. Tomasetti and Vogelstein, Variation in cancer risk among tissues
can be explained by the number of stem cell divisions, Science, 2 January 2015
• Vol 347 Issue 6217
2. Yarchoan et al, Tumor Mutational Burden and Response Rate to
PD-1 Inhibition , NEJM 377;25, Dec 21, 2017
3. Klutstein et al, Contribution of epigenetic mechanisms to
variation in cancer risk among tissues, PNAS | February 28, 2017 | vol. 114 |
no. 9
4. Vogelstein et al, Cancer Genome Landscapes, 29 March 2013 Vol
339 Science
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