Common Anti-Cancer Therapies Induce Somatic Mutations in Stem Cells of Healthy Tissue

Scientists examined genome-wide somatic mutation patterns in 42 healthy adult stem cells (ASCs) of the colon or the liver from 14 cancer patients that received systemic chemotherapy and/or local radiotherapy. The platinum-based chemo-drug Oxaliplatin induced on average 535 ± 260 mutations in colon ASC, while 5-FU shows a complete mutagenic absence in most, but not all colon ASCs.