Research articles

This Analysis surveys several major cancer systems biology approaches with attention to how well their resulting network maps cover, and enhance, our knowledge of cancer pathways.

This Analysis article examines the extent of genetic heterogeneity within several types of untreated cancers, with particular regard to its clinical relevance, and finds that the homogeneity of predicted functional mutations in driver genes is the rule rather than the exception.

This Analysis examines preclinical mouse tumour studies published in eight scientific journals in 2016. It reviews current practices, identifies some important challenges and discusses ways in which the relevance, reproducibility and translatability of tumour models could be improved.

Using genomic data, this Analysis demonstrates that commonly inherited single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) occurring in genes of the p53 pathway affect the incidence of a broad range of cancers, more so than SNPs in other pathways. This has implications for p53-mediated tumour suppression in humans.

This Analysis article discusses characterization of the kinome in human cancers through genomic, proteomic and functional genomic analyses. In particular, it presents an analysis of cancer genomic data to derive a new census of protein kinase cancer drivers.

This Analysis uses the published literature to form a DNA damage response network and then uses this to identify potential synthetic lethal interactions and to assess the druggability of proteins in the DNA damage response network.

Aberrant expression and activity of G proteins and G-protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs) are frequently associated with tumorigenesis. Recent deep sequencing studies have shown that nearly 20% of human tumours harbour mutations in GPCRs. This Analysis article reviews these findings and the indications that G proteins, GPCRs and their signalling pathways represent novel therapeutic targets for cancer prevention and treatment.

Aminoacyl-tRNA synthetases (ARSs) are assumed to be simply 'housekeeping' genes. However, mammalian ARSs interact with diverse regulatory factors both inside and outside the cell. Do these enzymes have a role in tumorigenesis?

This article proposes a weight-of-evidence based classification system for identifying individual genes in an amplified region of the genome that contribute to cancer development. The 77 genes identified using this approach have been further subdivided into different gene classes.

Death due to smoking — from cancer, vascular disease or tuberculosis — is growing worldwide, particularly in low- and middle-income countries, in which the prevalence of smoking is increasing. How many people could die from smoking before 2050 and how might this be avoided?