Related Experiment Video
Updated: May 15, 2026

Tracking Tumor Cell Dissemination from Lung Metastases Using Photoconversion
Published on: July 7, 2023
Tracing the cellular origin of cancer
1Université Libre de Bruxelles, IRIBHM and WELBIO, Brussels, Belgium. Cedric.Blanpain@ulb.ac.be
Abstract:
Although many genes that lead to different types of cancer when mutated have been identified, the cells that initiate tumour formation following accumulation of these mutations have, until recently, remained elusive. This review explores how mouse genetic lineage-tracing experiments that allow the expression of oncogenes and/or the deletion of tumour suppressor genes in defined cell lineages have been instrumental in defining the cellular origin of different solid tumours in mouse models for various human cancers.
Related Concept Videos
Cancers Originate from Somatic Mutations in a Single Cell
Cancers Originate from Somatic Mutations in a Single Cell
What is Cancer?
Although people have known about cancer for centuries, it was only in 1761 that Giovanni Morgagni of Padua performed a detailed autopsy of patients who died from...
Cancer-Critical Genes I: Proto-oncogenes
When the function of certain critical genes, especially those involved in cell cycle regulation and cell growth signaling cascades, gets disrupted, it upsets the cell cycle progression. Such cells with unchecked cell cycles start proliferating uncontrollably and eventually develop into tumors.
Such genes that act...
Cancer-Critical Genes I: Proto-oncogenes
When the function of certain critical genes, especially those involved in cell cycle regulation and cell growth signaling cascades, gets disrupted, it upsets the cell cycle progression. Such cells with unchecked cell cycles start proliferating uncontrollably and eventually develop into tumors.
Such genes that act...
Tumor Progression
Colon cancer is one of the best-documented examples of tumor progression. Early mutation in the APC gene in colon cells causes a small growth on the colon wall called a polyp. With time, this polyp grows into a benign, pre-cancerous tumor. Further...

