Changing the Rules of the Game: How Winners Become Losers during Oncogenic Cell Selection

Abstract

As we age, our tissues become a mosaic of random mutations, many of which are oncogenic and promote the expansion of their carrier cells. In this issue of Cell Stem Cell, Fernandez-Antoran et al. (2019) show how commonly used medical procedures modify cell selection dynamics to either expand or eliminate cells carrying oncogenic p53 mutations.