Cancer cells much more likely to mutate

Once cells become cancerous they are 100 times more likely to genetically mutate than normal cells, according to researchers. And that conclusion could spell serious trouble for research programs that seek to control a single gene involved in malignancy. "This is very bad news, because it means that cancer cells in a tumor will have mutations that protect them from therapeutics," said lead investigator Lawrence Loeb of the University of Washington School of Medicine. The research also points to a new method to gauge the malignancy of a tumor by evaluating the number of mutations it has.

- check out the release
- read the report on the cancer study from News-Medical

Related Articles:
Cancer-killing viruses head to the clinic. Report
"Scrap" DNA can turn off tumor cell division. Report