Is the establishment of a clone exhibiting defective DNA repair the initial stage of carcinogenesis?
It is proposed that the first (initiating) phase of carcinogenesis involves the production of a clone of cells possessing an inherited alteration in the efficiency and/or fidelity of DNA repair. Such a clone would exhibit an elevated mutation rate thus increasing the probability of at least one of the clonal progeny undergoing the set of subsequent mutations necessary for the phenotypic expression of malignancy.
D000818:Animals; D002460:Cell Line; D002471:Cell Transformation, Neoplastic / Q000378:metabolism*; D002999:Clone Cells; D004260:DNA Repair; D006801:Humans; D009154:Mutation; D011230:Precancerous Conditions / Q000235:genetics