Cambridgeshire, March 19 -- Scientists have carefully examined somatic mutations in stomach lining tissue to uncover mutational mechanisms that can lead to cancer.

The scientists also discovered evidence of a possible new cause of stomach cancer, which warrants further investigation.

Researchers at the Wellcome Sanger Institute, Broad Institute of MIT and Harvard, the University of Hong Kong, and their collaborators sequenced the whole genomes of normal stomach lining samples from people with and without gastric cancer.

The team found that despite regular exposure to the acidic contents of the stomach, the gastric lining is protected from any toxic effects. They discovered that cells with 'driver' mutations in cancer genes occupy almos...