PMID- 9872311 OWN - NLM STAT- MEDLINE DCOM- 19990119 LR - 20220410 IS - 0028-0836 (Print) IS - 0028-0836 (Linking) VI - 396 IP - 6712 DP - 1998 Dec 17 TI - Genetic instabilities in human cancers. PG - 643-9 AB - Whether and how human tumours are genetically unstable has been debated for decades. There is now evidence that most cancers may indeed be genetically unstable, but that the instability exists at two distinct levels. In a small subset of tumours, the instability is observed at the nucleotide level and results in base substitutions or deletions or insertions of a few nucleotides. In most other cancers, the instability is observed at the chromosome level, resulting in losses and gains of whole chromosomes or large portions thereof. Recognition and comparison of these instabilities are leading to new insights into tumour pathogenesis. FAU - Lengauer, C AU - Lengauer C AD - Johns Hopkins Oncology Center, Baltimore, Maryland 21231, USA. lengauer@jhmi.edu FAU - Kinzler, K W AU - Kinzler KW FAU - Vogelstein, B AU - Vogelstein B LA - eng PT - Journal Article PT - Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't PT - Research Support, U.S. Gov't, P.H.S. PT - Review PL - England TA - Nature JT - Nature JID - 0410462 SB - IM MH - Chromosome Aberrations MH - Gene Amplification MH - Humans MH - Neoplasms/*genetics MH - Translocation, Genetic RF - 95 EDAT- 1999/01/01 03:03 MHDA- 2001/03/23 10:01 CRDT- 1999/01/01 03:03 PHST- 1999/01/01 03:03 [pubmed] PHST- 2001/03/23 10:01 [medline] PHST- 1999/01/01 03:03 [entrez] AID - 10.1038/25292 [doi] PST - ppublish SO - Nature. 1998 Dec 17;396(6712):643-9. doi: 10.1038/25292.