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Targeting Collateral Damage in Cancer Cells May Revolutionize Precision Oncology

September 27, 2022

Via: GEN

While cancer-triggering mutations often inactivate tumor suppressor genes, they also frequently delete genes essential for survival. This causes cancer cells to rely on other genes that function like the essential genes lost as collateral damage in the cancer-causing mutation. Complete dependence on these paralogs constitutes a unique vulnerability in cancer cells. These paralogs are therefore attractive targets for treatments that could specifically kill cancer cells, leaving normal cells unharmed. Yet, there are currently no methods available to detect such collateral lethal genes.

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