Figure 1.

Holistic molecular genetic paradigm for cancer initiation and progression. * The sentinel event in cancer occurs when a double-strand break is introduced into DNA at the site of a proto-oncogene transcription activator within a normal tissue stem or progenitor cell resulting in the subsequent production of a chimeric oncogenic protein with novel gene regulatory properties. The blue shape (+): vital oncogenes constitutively activate stem cell maintenance genes such as OCT3/4, HOX, NANOG, MYC, SOX2 and NOTCH1.