ArticleNature genetics2026
Age distinguishes selection from causation in cancer genomes.
Article in Nature genetics, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 4 papers.
What it found
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The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
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Who cites it
4 citing papers in PubMed.
- The next 25 years of cancer research: emerging perspectives and priorities.Nature reviews. Cancer · 2026Article
- Finding clonal hematopoiesis before sequencing.Blood advances · 2026Article
- A guide to understanding tumour evolution through the lens of population genetics.Nature reviews. Cancer · 2026Review
- Age distinguishes selection from causation in cancer genomes.Nature genetics · 2026Article
Corrections and comments
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Authors and funding
5 authors.
Funding
Abstract
Cancer-causing mutations have been identified primarily from positive selection signals in cancer genomes. However, positive selection is also a ubiquitous feature of normal tissue aging. Here we develop a statistical framework to disentangle selection in normal tissue and causation of carcinogenesis. By comparing cancer and normal tissue genomes, we estimate the effects of mutations on cancer risk in the blood, esophagus and colon. We determine that stronger cancer-causing mutations are enriched at younger patient ages. This enables cancer-causing mutations to be identified from patient age distributions, even without normal tissue data. Moreover, we show for acute myeloid leukemia that the age-dependence of purported causal mutations can be explained largely by normal blood evolution, challenging the long-standing notion that childhood cancers require distinct mutations. Broadly, our framework delineates carcinogenesis from normal tissue aging, improving the assessment of cancer risk conferred by mutations.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the Socratic graph.