Public data for the public good
The human genome project galvanized the scientific community around an ambitious goal. It produced several crucial discoveries, and a new era of research began. For the first time, it became possible to estimate the number of human genes and compile a ...
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The evolutionary war — how to beat cancer in its own game
Cancer evolves. That much is known and agreed upon. Researchers still, however, debate the detailed picture of how cancer came to be and why it still plages our species is subject to debate. Studying cancer through an evolutionary lens could provide an...
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Gene expression adaptation in yeast, mice, and humans
Coding vs. non-coding variants Mutations produce novelty. The kind of novel variants on which selection acts. These variants fall within two broad categories depending on location in the genome: protein-coding and regulatory sequences. The former pro...
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The non-genetic determinants in cancer evolution
When one lines up the genomes of related species, they vary in more than the protein-coding sequences. In fact, most differences fall outside these regions, given the small fraction they represent. Genomes differ with respect to sequences that regulate...
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The evolution of self-consumption
To study the evolution of a body part or a trait, one needs to address two questions. First, what is the trait for? Second, how could it evolve in small steps that gave some advantage to the organism that carried them? It is also necessary to suggest a...
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Cancer evolution by non-Darwinian mechanisms
In the Darwinian model of cancer evolution, the variations among cancer cells result in differential survival of some clones, which dominate the tumor mass. This view was challenged by discovering that tumors comprised multiple subclones that differ ge...
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A cell eating itself, leveraging autophagy to treat cancer
What is autophagy? Autophagy is a process by which the cell can maintain and recycle its components. The process starts by forming a membrane around the target. This structure then is fused with lysosomes which contain enzymes to lyse and degrade the...
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The archetypes of cancer
Evolutionary thinking is a powerful tool kit for studying development and disease. Prominent areas of relevance are the development of functional organs and the mismatch between their initial conditions and the current environments and lifestyles. Thes...
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Six things go wrong for cancer to grow
Cancer isn't a single disease but rather a multitude of conditions that arise at varying ages, grow at different rates, and manifest in numerous ways. However, the cells that constitute these tumors share plenty of features and employ similar strategie...
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