Importantly, a detailed analysis of 31,717 cancer cases and 26,136 cancer-free controls from 13 genome-wide association studies [48] revealed that “the vast majority, if not all, of aberrations that were observed in the cancer-affected cohort were also seen in cancer-free subjects, although at lower frequency” [47]. Thus, the notion that somatic mutations are necessarily harmful and can lead to cancer is not borne out by this study and further affirms the hypothesis that mutations observed in cancers are not the triggering event but more likely a means for the clonal replication of already transformed cancer cells.
Isn’t case-control GWAS the wrong tool for the job since it’s blind to rare mutations? I’d compare a person’s cancerous cells to their normal cells instead, though I’m not an expert so maybe there’s a problem with this.
Isn’t case-control GWAS the wrong tool for the job since it’s blind to rare mutations? I’d compare a person’s cancerous cells to their normal cells instead, though I’m not an expert so maybe there’s a problem with this.