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A new DNA "fingerprinting" library could help scientific detectives uncover environmental leaders responsible for cancer.
British experts have created a database of mutation markers, including those left by tobacco chemicals in lung cancer tumors.
In total, scientists have identified the "footprints" of 41 environmental cancer – related agents, such as tobacco smoke, sunlight, and air pollution from road vehicles.
Mutual signatures are the fingerprints left by carcinogens on our DNA, and just like fingerprints, they are unique.
Each chemical triggers a specific change in the molecular structure of DNA that can lead to cancer.
Dr. Serena Nik-Zainal, of the Cancer Research Unit of the Medical Research Council of the University of Cambridge, who co-led the research, said, "Mutual signatures are the fingerprints digital that carcinogens leave on our DNA and, like fingerprints, they are unique.
"They allow us to treat tumors as a crime scene and, just like forensic scientists, allow us to identify the culprit and his accomplices responsible for the tumor."
At the start of the study, scientists exposed stem cells derived from the skin to 79 suspected or suspected environmental carcinogens, or cancer triggers.
The cells had been reprogrammed into a "pluripotent" state of the embyronic type, giving them the potential to become any type of cell in the body.
The researchers then examined the patterns of changes caused by the chemical "suspects".
They discovered that 41 had left a distinctive and unique fingerprint on stem cell DNA.
Among them, mutations known in lung tumors of smokers, allowing scientists to identify for the first time the chemicals responsible for tobacco.
Common chemotherapy drugs, some dietary chemicals and chemicals found in the diesel engine exhaust gases have left other fingerprints.
Research shows how vulnerable human DNA is to chemical agents that invade the world we live in, say scientists whose findings have been reported in the journal Cell.
Dr. Nik-Zainal said, "Our reference library will allow doctors to identify the perpetrators of cancer in the future.
"This information could be very useful in helping to inform measures to reduce people's exposure to potentially dangerous carcinogens."
– Press Association
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