Oncogenes on doughnut-shaped ecDNA (orange)

“In the past, cancer researchers have mainly focused on targeting genes that are located on the chromosome. But a type of doughnut-shaped DNA that resides outside of the chromosome may give cancer cells their malignant qualities, suggests a team led by scientists at theUniversity of California, San Diego (UCSD) branch of the Ludwig Institute for Cancer Research and Stanford University. The structure, known as extrachromosomal DNA (ecDNA), is found in abundance in human tumor cells. These circles of DNA change how cancer-driving oncogenes are expressed, and, in so doing, promote cancer growth and play a key role in tumors’ ability to evolve and resist treatments,. . .”   MORE

Image Credit: Paul Mischel, UC San Diego