New cancer breakthrough dubbed a game changer

A team of American researchers have found mutations that cause cancer are created by errors that occur when cells copy DNA.

The findings contract claims cancer is caused by lifestyle choices or hereditary genes and instead argues random chance is to blame for most types of cancer.

The discoveries were published in the journal Science and could change the way doctors and researchers fight the disease.

The cells in our bodies are constantly moving and changing and each time a cell divides, there is a chance for errors during the DNA replication process, reports Nature.

It’s this chance for random errors that are thought to be behind the cancer-causing mutations.

“If we think of the mutations as the enemies, and all the enemies are outside of our border, it’s obvious how to keep them from getting inside,” study co-author Bert Vogelstein, a geneticist at the Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center in Baltimore, Maryland, told Nature.

“But if a lot of the enemies — in this case close to two-thirds — are actually inside our borders, it means we need a completely different strategy.”

Vogelstein said other known causes of cancer, like smoking and sun exposure, are still legitimate and that his results do not contradict that. It usually takes more than one cell mutation to cause cancer so the results are not comparable.

However, the study’s findings give researchers new information on how to tackle cancer prevention and treatment. It is the first study to discover the relationship between DNA error and cancer, meaning doctors are now armed with vital information in their effort to eradicate the disease.

Have you or anyone you know been affected by cancer? Are you happy to hear of this breakthrough?