MuTect: An engine powering cancer genome analysis Over the last
year, researchers at the Broad and elsewhere have analyzed genes
in over 100 samples of breast cancer, identified new pathways in
head and neck cancer, uncovered new subtypes of prostate cancer,
and revealed significant mutations in dozens of forms of cancer.
Behind all of these studies lies a central tool developed by
Broad researchers: MuTect. Used to detect point mutations –
single “letter” alterations in the genome that may help twist a
normal cell into a cancerous one – the MuTect algorithm is one
of the engines powering cancer genome analysis. Tools like
MuTect have helped drive the studies that grace the pages of
Nature, Science, and other journals, but rarely make headlines
themselves. This week however, a new paper in Nature
Biotechnology focuses on MuTect, describing the method’s
abilities and offering a test for comparing the sensitivity and
specificity of different mutation-detecting tools. “We know that
point mutations are important