Key points from article :
Genomic instability is mutations to DNA within an organism during its lifetime.
Mutations that favour the mutant cell over ordinary cells can be selected for.
Could lead to cancer, COPD and atherosclerotic diseases.
More common per cell than germline mutations.
Germ cells have defences against mutation that somatic cells do not.
Recent cost-effective high-throughput sequencing down to the single-cell level has enabled quantitative analysis of somatic mutations in human tissue in relation to ageing and disease.
Genomic instability is one of the most difficult hallmarks to do anything about.
Would require intensive gene therapy to restore to their original state, or replacement by uncompromised stem cells.
Research by Albert Einstein College of Medicine published in Cell.
