GI highlights from the literature

Basic scienceMutation burden in cancer cells Blokzijl F, de Ligt J, Jager M, et al. Tissue-specific mutation accumulation in human adult stem cells during life. Nature 2016;538:260–4. In cancer, stem cells are thought to be the primary target for genetic defects due to the fact that they live far longer than any differentiated cells; however, no accurate estimation of the mutation rate in human tissue stem cells (particularly colon, small intestine and liver) has been established. Here, the authors have generated 45 organoid cultures, from 19 donors ranging in age from 3 to 87 years, from stem cells extracted from colon, small intestine and liver specimens. There is a much higher rate of cancer incidence in the human colon compared with small intestine and liver and the authors test whether this is reflected in the mutation burden and pattern in the organoids. They performed whole genome sequencing...
Source: Gut - Category: Gastroenterology Authors: Tags: JournalScan Source Type: research