I.C. Hsu, R.A. Metcalf, T. Sun, J.A. Welsh, N.J. Wang, C.C. Harris, "Mutational hotspot in the p53 gene in human hepatocellular carcinomas," Nature, 350:427-8, 1991.
Curtis Harris (National Cancer Institute, Bethesda, Md.): "Classical epidemiology has successfully identified human populations at high cancer risk and associated the risk with exposure to environmental agents. For example, hepatitis B virus and aflatoxin B1 have been epidemiologically linked to human liver cancer.
"More recently, molecular analysis of human cancers has identified oncogenes and tumor suppressor genes, with mutation of the p53 tumor suppressor gene the most common genetic change found in human cancer (M.C. Hollstein, et al., Science, 253:49- 53, 1991).
"Our initial questions were: Is the p53 gene mutated in human hepatocellular carcinoma; and, if so, is the mutational spectrum reflective of that caused by aflatoxin B1 in experimental mutagenesis assays? To test our hypotheses, a collaborative study was formed with colleague Zong-tang...