Human cells are supposed to have 46 chromosomes. However, sometimes they don’t. They could have 45 or 47 chromosomes, for example. This genetic disorder, aneuploidy, is present in approximately 90% of all cancer cases. Scientists once suspected it actually caused cancer. But that was back in the early 20th century.
“Since then advancements in the way we look at cancer have taken research in different directions,” says Asad Lakhani. Lakhani is a postdoctoral researcher at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory (CSHL) and recent graduate of CSHL’s School of Biological Sciences. In the video above, he takes us on a brief tour of cancer research’s evolution from the early 1900s all the way up to today.
Recent studies by Lakhani and his colleagues provide new scientific evidence for the old notion that aneuploidy plays a key role in cancer development. It turns out that those early 20th-century scientists could’ve been onto something after all. Press play to join Lakhani on a walk through history and find out more about his team’s exciting discovery.
Read the related story: Genome hack reignites century-old cancer debate