Somatic evolution of cancer genes in sex chromosomes.

According to a preprint abstract, genes on sex chromosomes have higher evolutionary rates than those on autosomes, but this may not apply to somatic evolution in cancer. Mutations in X-chromosome tumor-suppressor genes (TSGs) are more likely to contribute to cancer than mutations in autosomal TSGs. The maintenance of X-chromosome inactivation during cancer progression plays a role in the evolution of TSGs, and there is variation in the relative mutation incidence in X-linked TSGs among females across different studies. This differentiation is not associated with the specific type of cancer or tissue of origin, suggesting that X-chromosome inactivation may play a differential role in the involvement of X-linked TSGs across individual cancers. [Extracted from the article]