Researchers at Baylor College of Medicine found that a key genetic variant risk factor, PNPLA3, plays a synergistic role in increasing the risk for cirrhosis, liver cancer, and liver-related death when combined with alcohol use and obesity.
For over 50 years, scientists have been on a quest to identify which malignant mutations within the tumor allow rogue cells to break away from the primary tumor and travel through the bloodstream and lymphatic system to metastasize throughout the body. Now, new research suggests an alternative mechanism has been overlooked—elusive mutations driving metastasis may not be developing within the twisted DNA of tumors themselves, but within the patient’s regular, inherited DNA.
