Trinucleotide repeats are prevalent among cancer-related genes.
Trinucleotide repeats (TNRs) have been primarily connected to neurologic and neuromuscular diseases, with few specific TNRs linked with various tumors. Here we conduct a genome-wide analysis and show that TNRs are five times more prevalent in cancer-related human genes. Interestingly, we also find that cancer-related genes are significantly longer than other genes. Our results suggest that genes containing TNRs are more prone to mutagenesis. The database of TNR genes can be used as a list of candidate cancer-related genes.
Department of Pediatric Hemato-Oncology, the Edmond and Lily Safra Children's Hospital and Cancer Research Center, Sheba Medical Center and Sackler School of Medicine, Tel Aviv University, Ramat Aviv 69978, Israel.
Yael
Y
Haberman
Ninette
N
Amariglio
Gideon
G
Rechavi
Eli
E
Eisenberg
D000818:Animals; D052138:Genes, Neoplasm; D016678:Genome / Q000235:genetics; D006801:Humans; D018911:Trinucleotide Repeats / Q000235:genetics*