title: Specificity, selection and significance of gene amplifications in cancer.
abstract: DNA copy number amplifications activate oncogenes and are found in the majority of advanced solid tumors. Cell-lineage specificity and oncogene affinity of DNA amplifications in cancer suggest that properties of precursor stem cells and selection pressure in the tissue micro-environment determine the genomic location of gene amplifications. Biological specificity and significance of gene amplifications make them potential targets for clinical applications. Here we discuss the specificity of non-randomly occurring DNA copy number amplifications as defining features for cancers, their selection in the tumor tissue, and significance in the clinical practice.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pathology, Haartman Institute and HUSLAB, University of Helsinki and Helsinki University Central Hospital, POB 21 (Haartmaninkatu 3), FI-00014 University of Helsinki, Helsinki, Finland.
authors.forename: Samuel
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Myllykangas
authors.forename: Tom
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Böhling
authors.forename: Sakari
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Knuutila
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002454:Cell Differentiation; D019070:Cell Lineage; D016000:Cluster Analysis; D004247:DNA / Q000235:genetics*; D020869:Gene Expression Profiling; D015972:Gene Expression Regulation, Neoplastic; D016678:Genome; D006801:Humans; D008957:Models, Genetic; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000235:genetics*; D017422:Sequence Analysis, DNA
chemical_list: D004247:DNA