Genomic instability in cancer: biological and mathematical approaches.

Genomic instability occurs in a majority of cancers. It manifests itself in a large number genetic alterations in cancer cells, such as small scale mutations, losses and gains of whole chromosomes and parts of chromosomes and mitotic recombinations. The role of genomic instability is still unknown. It is difficult to study because of its heterogeneous nature. Most methods based on looking for defined features of genes or gene expressions, are not applicable for unstable populations of cells. A variety of approaches are used to study genomic instability. These include experimental studies of cancer cell lines and mouse models, analysis of large amounts of data on loss of heterozygocity, and mathematical modeling of the relevant processes. We describe these approaches here; integration of different methods can improve our understanding of genomic instability.