# The epigenetic progenitor origin of human cancer

Source: https://onco.cc/key-papers/paper-feinberg-nat-rev-genet-2006/  
OnCo record `paper-feinberg-nat-rev-genet-2006` (Key paper). Data CC BY-NC 4.0, attribute "Data from OnCo (onco.cc)"; commercial use needs a licence.

## TL;DR

Paper cited by one term page, indexed on Europe PMC as PubMed record 16369569 and published in Nature reviews. Genetics; the citing page links this DOI, which is how the record was matched.

## Summary

Cancer is widely perceived as a heterogeneous group of disorders with markedly different biological properties, which are caused by a series of clonally selected genetic changes in key tumour-suppressor genes and oncogenes. However, recent data suggest that cancer has a fundamentally common basis that is grounded in a polyclonal epigenetic disruption of stem/progenitor cells, mediated by 'tumour-progenitor genes'. Furthermore, tumour cell heterogeneity is due in part to epigenetic variation in progenitor cells, and epigenetic plasticity together with genetic lesions drives tumour progression. This crucial early role for epigenetic alterations in cancer is in addition to epigenetic alterations that can substitute for genetic variation later in tumour progression. Therefore, non-neoplastic but epigenetically disrupted stem/progenitor cells might be a crucial target for cancer risk assessment and chemoprevention.

Indexed on Europe PMC as PubMed record 16369569 (DOI 10.1038/nrg1748). Matched by DOI alone: one term page cites this DOI among its external links (the pages are listed under Related), and this page was written so that the citation resolves inside OnCo. No figure has been checked by an editor.

## Fields

- Kind: Key paper
- Last checked: 2026-09-22
- Tags: europepmc-ingest
- Journal: Nature reviews. Genetics
- Year: 2006
- DOI: 10.1038/nrg1748
- Authors: Feinberg AP, Ohlsson R, Henikoff S
- What it means: One term page on OnCo cites this paper by its DOI; this record gives the citation a page of its own so a reader can follow it without leaving OnCo. Read the abstract above alongside the citing page listed under Related; the record was created automatically from the Europe PMC entry and its figures have not been checked by hand.
- Caveats: Matched to the citing OnCo records by DOI alone; the summary reproduces the Europe PMC abstract and no figure has been verified against the full paper.

## Sources

- Nat Rev Genet 2006: https://doi.org/10.1038/nrg1748
- PubMed: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/16369569/
- Europe PMC: https://europepmc.org/article/MED/16369569

## Connected records

- terms: [Epigenetic progenitor theory: cancer without a first mutation](https://onco.cc/terms/epigenetic-progenitor-theory/)

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