Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2009 Jan 20;106(3):859-63.
doi: 10.1073/pnas.0811616106. Epub 2009 Jan 7.

Toward a genetics of cancer resistance

George Klein  1
Affiliations

Toward a genetics of cancer resistance

George Klein. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. .

Abstract

Two of three humans never get cancer. Even the majority of heavy smokers remain cancer free. Is this a matter of chance, or are there cancer-resistant genotypes? Based on the evidence discussed, it would appear that evolution has favored a limited number of relatively common resistance genes that may nip incipient cancerous foci in the bud, i.e., to stop them at their inception. It is further suggested that resistance genes may act at the level of tissue organization in a dominant fashion.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The author declares no conflict of interest.

Comment in

  • Cancer resistance and Peto's paradox.
    Bredberg A. Bredberg A. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2009 May 19;106(20):E51; author reply E52. doi: 10.1073/pnas.0901953106. Epub 2009 Apr 29. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2009. PMID: 19416876 Free PMC article. No abstract available.

References

    1. Weinberg RA. The Biology of Cancer. New York: Garland Science Publishers; 2007.
    1. Bremner R, Balmain A. Genetic changes in skin tumor progression: Correlation between presence of a mutant ras gene and loss of heterozygosity on mouse chromosome 7. Cell. 1990;61:407–420. - PubMed
    1. Balmain A, Nagase H. Cancer resistance genes in mice: Models for the study of tumor modifiers. Trends Genet. 1998;14:139–144. - PubMed
    1. Nagase H, et al. Distinct genetic loci control development of benign and malignant skin tumours in mice. Nat Genet. 1995;10:424–429. - PubMed
    1. Manenti G, et al. Genetic mapping of a pulmonary adenoma resistance locus (Par1) in mouse. Nat Genet. 1996;12:455–457. - PubMed

LinkOut - more resources