Predicting the molecular functions of regulatory genetic variants associated with cancer.

A recent editorial paper published in Oncotarget discusses the molecular functions of regulatory genetic variants associated with cancer. The paper highlights the challenges in understanding the effects of genetic variants, such as their small effect size and their location in non-protein-coding regions of the genome. The researchers propose integrating genomic, epigenomic, transcriptomic, and machine learning methods to identify functional genetic variants and characterize their mode of action in regulating target genes. This approach has implications for cancer research and precision medicine. [Extracted from the article]