Biomaterial Database

Identifying cancer driver genes in tumor genome sequencing studies. 2011

Ahrim Youn, and Richard Simon

Biometric Research Branch, National Cancer Institute, Bethesda, MD 20892-7434, USA.

BACKGROUND Major tumor sequencing projects have been conducted in the past few years to identify genes that contain 'driver' somatic mutations in tumor samples. These genes have been defined as those for which the non-silent mutation rate is significantly greater than a background mutation rate estimated from silent mutations. Several methods have been used for estimating the background mutation rate. RESULTS We propose a new method for identifying cancer driver genes, which we believe provides improved accuracy. The new method accounts for the functional impact of mutations on proteins, variation in background mutation rate among tumors and the redundancy of the genetic code. We reanalyzed sequence data for 623 candidate genes in 188 non-small cell lung tumors using the new method. We found several important genes like PTEN, which were not deemed significant by the previous method. At the same time, we determined that some genes previously reported as drivers were not significant by the new analysis because mutations in these genes occurred mainly in tumors with large background mutation rates. BACKGROUND The software is available at: http://linus.nci.nih.gov/Data/YounA/software.zip.

UI	MeSH Term	Description	Entries
D008175	Lung Neoplasms	Tumors or cancer of the LUNG.	Cancer of Lung,Lung Cancer,Pulmonary Cancer,Pulmonary Neoplasms,Cancer of the Lung,Neoplasms, Lung,Neoplasms, Pulmonary,Cancer, Lung,Cancer, Pulmonary,Cancers, Lung,Cancers, Pulmonary,Lung Cancers,Lung Neoplasm,Neoplasm, Lung,Neoplasm, Pulmonary,Pulmonary Cancers,Pulmonary Neoplasm
D009154	Mutation	Any detectable and heritable change in the genetic material that causes a change in the GENOTYPE and which is transmitted to daughter cells and to succeeding generations.	Mutations
D009369	Neoplasms	New abnormal growth of tissue. Malignant neoplasms show a greater degree of anaplasia and have the properties of invasion and metastasis, compared to benign neoplasms.	Benign Neoplasm,Cancer,Malignant Neoplasm,Tumor,Tumors,Benign Neoplasms,Malignancy,Malignant Neoplasms,Neoplasia,Neoplasm,Neoplasms, Benign,Cancers,Malignancies,Neoplasias,Neoplasm, Benign,Neoplasm, Malignant,Neoplasms, Malignant
D004252	DNA Mutational Analysis	Biochemical identification of mutational changes in a nucleotide sequence.	Mutational Analysis, DNA,Analysis, DNA Mutational,Analyses, DNA Mutational,DNA Mutational Analyses,Mutational Analyses, DNA
D006801	Humans	Members of the species Homo sapiens.	Homo sapiens,Man (Taxonomy),Human,Man, Modern,Modern Man
D016678	Genome	The genetic complement of an organism, including all of its GENES, as represented in its DNA, or in some cases, its RNA.	Genomes
D052138	Genes, Neoplasm	Genes whose abnormal expression, or MUTATION are associated with the development, growth, or progression of NEOPLASMS.	Cancer Genes,Neoplasm Genes,Cancer Gene,Gene, Cancer,Gene, Neoplasm,Genes, Cancer,Neoplasm Gene
D023281	Genomics	The systematic study of the complete DNA sequences (GENOME) of organisms. Included is construction of complete genetic, physical, and transcript maps, and the analysis of this structural genomic information on a global scale such as in GENOME WIDE ASSOCIATION STUDIES.	Functional Genomics,Structural Genomics,Comparative Genomics,Genomics, Comparative,Genomics, Functional,Genomics, Structural