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Mutational anysis of breast cancer stem cells

Exome sequences of breast cancer have been investigated for many patients. Recently it has been shown that there are intra-heterogeneity in tumor tissues. When the tumor cells were sequenced in bulk condition, only the major populations��� (clones���) mutations will be detected. Based on cancer stem theory, each populations��� cells are derived from each cancer stem cells, which their numbers are not so different among different clones. Here, we separated cancer cells into cancer stem cells and non-cancer stem cells exploiting cancer stem cell specific surface markers. By comping two groups��� mutation, we identified mutations, which were only detected in stem cell population. These mutations could be the mutations in cells of small size populations, and maybe the important mutations to understand the heterogeneity of tumor tissues, progression, and/or prediction for the outcome to therapies.