Question

What are the differences between cancer driver mutations and passenger mutations? How can a passenger mutation become a driver mutation?

Short answer

Answer: The main differences between cancer driver mutations and passenger mutations are their role in cancer progression, effect on cellular pathways, and frequency. Driver mutations actively contribute to cancer development and progression, impacting critical cellular pathways like cell growth and survival. Passenger mutations do not play a significant role in cancer development or progression. However, a passenger mutation can become a driver mutation under certain conditions, such as additional genetic changes, a changing cellular environment, or through epistasis, where passenger mutations collaborate with other mutations to promote cancer growth.

Step-by-step solution

Definition of Cancer Driver Mutations

Cancer driver mutations are genetic alterations that directly contribute to the development and progression of cancer. They play a significant role in the growth and spread of tumor cells by affecting critical cellular pathways related to cell division, growth, differentiation, and survival.

Definition of Passenger Mutations

Passenger mutations are genetic alterations that happen within a cancerous cell that do not contribute to tumor development or progression. These mutations are simply “along for the ride” with the cancerous cell and do not have any significant impact on the cell's malignant behavior.

Differences between Cancer Driver Mutations and Passenger Mutations

The main differences between cancer driver mutations and passenger mutations are as follows: 1. Role in Cancer Progression: Driver mutations play an active role in cancer development and progression, while passenger mutations do not. 2. Effect on Cellular Pathways: Driver mutations generally lead to changes in critical cellular pathways, such as cell growth and survival, while passenger mutations have no such effects. 3. Frequency: Driver mutations are relatively rare compared to passenger mutations. A tumor may have only a handful of driver mutations, while it may have thousands of passenger mutations.

How Passenger Mutations Can Become Driver Mutations

Although passenger mutations do not generally contribute to cancer development or progression, they can occasionally accumulate over time and eventually become driver mutations. This process mainly occurs under the following conditions: 1. Additional Genetic Changes: If a passenger mutation somehow acquires additional changes that make it functional, it can become a driver mutation. 2. Changing Cellular Environment: As the tumor microenvironment changes over time, a passenger mutation may start to serve a function that promotes cancer growth or progression. For instance, it may help tumor cells resist therapy or evade the immune system. 3. Epistasis: Some passenger mutations may interact with other genetic alterations and together result in a driving force promoting cancer growth. This phenomenon, known as epistasis, refers to the combined effect of multiple genetic changes on an organism's phenotype. In such cases, a passenger mutation can “collaborate” with other mutations to affect critical cellular pathways and cause cancer to progress. Overall, while passenger mutations typically do not play a significant role in cancer development and progression, they have the potential to become driver mutations under specific circumstances. Knowledge of these mechanisms is essential for understanding and treating cancer.