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Gene copy number linked to testicular cancer

Zsofia K. Stadler, MD (Damon Runyon Clinical Investigator ‘11-‘14) of Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, New York City, led a genomic study of testicular cancer that identified “copy number variations” (CNVs) as a cause of cancer. Rather than being triggered by a single gene mutation, these tumors can be caused by CNVs (too many or too few copies of a gene). CNVs occurred spontaneously in 7% of patients with early-onset testicular germ cell tumors. These findings were published in The American Journal of Human Genetics