{"id":105833,"date":"2017-10-20T01:47:55","date_gmt":"2017-10-19T23:47:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.arabtelegraph.com\/?p=105833"},"modified":"2017-10-20T01:47:55","modified_gmt":"2017-10-19T23:47:55","slug":"handful-of-changes-make-cancer","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.arabtelegraph.com\/?p=105833","title":{"rendered":"‘Handful of changes’ make cancer"},"content":{"rendered":"

British scientists have worked out how many changes it takes to transform a healthy cell into a cancer.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The team, at the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute, showed the answer was a tiny handful, between one and 10 mutations depending on the type of tumour.<\/p>\n

It has been one of the most hotly debated issues in cancer science for decades.<\/p>\n

The findings, published in the journal Cell, could improve treatment for patients.<\/p>\n

If you played spot the difference between a cancer and healthy tissue, you could find tens of thousands of differences – or mutations – in the DNA.<\/p>\n

Some are driving the cancer’s growth, while others are just along for the ride. So which ones are important?<\/p>\n

Root cause<\/h2>\n

The researchers analysed the DNA from 7,664 tumours to find “driver mutations” that allow a cell to be more selfish, aggressive and cancerous.<\/p>\n

They showed it could take:<\/strong><\/p>\n