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Pharmaceuticals (Basel, Switzerland) 14 (1) - [2021-01-13; online 2021-01-13]
Loss of heterozygosity (LOH) is a common genetic event in the development of cancer. In certain tumor types, LOH can affect more than 20% of the genome, entailing loss of allelic variation in thousands of genes. This reduction of heterozygosity creates genetic differences between tumor and normal cells, providing opportunities for development of novel cancer therapies. Here, we review and summarize (1) mutations associated with LOH on chromosomes which have been shown to be promising biomarkers of cancer risk or the prediction of clinical outcomes in certain types of tumors; (2) loci undergoing LOH that can be targeted for development of novel anticancer drugs as well as (3) LOH in tumors provides up-and-coming possibilities to understand the underlying mechanisms of cancer evolution and to discover novel cancer vulnerabilities which are worth a further investigation in the near future.
PubMed 33450833
DOI 10.3390/ph14010057
Crossref 10.3390/ph14010057
pmc: PMC7828287
pii: ph14010057