Figure 1.

The multistage model of carcinogenesis. In the simplest form of the multistage model, cancer originates following the accumulation in a single cell of a cancer-specific set of driver mutations. These mutations may be a mix of DNA mutations, epigenetic reprogramming and/or chromosomal alterations. The probability of cancer depends upon the number of dividing cells, the number of divisions that each cell lineage undergoes, the somatic mutation rate, and the number of driver mutations required.