Cancer cells often contain DNA fragments that have broken away from chromosomes1 and formed a type of circular structure called extrachromosomal DNA (ecDNA)2. These sequences usually have cancer-promoting genes and gene-regulatory sequences that enable tumour growth, adaptation and survival. Unlike cancer-promoting genes residing on chromosomes, which are always inherited by the next generation of cells, genes on ecDNA are reliably inherited only if they tether to chromosomes when cells divide3, and untethered ecDNA can get lost over time as cells replicate. In cell division, ecDNAs are not segregated equally into daughter cells, which means that cancer cells in a tumour can contain varying amounts of cancer-promoting genes. This can complicate treatment and negatively affect clinical outcomes1. Writing in Nature, Sankar et al.4 provide insights into how ecDNA is inherited.
doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-025-03589-1
References Yi, E. et al. Cancer Discov. 12, 468–483 (2022). Yi, E., Chamorro González, R., Henssen, A. G. & Verhaak, R. G. W. Nature Rev. Genet. 23, 760–771 (2022). Kanda, T., Otter, M. & Wahl, G. M. J. Cell Sci. 114, 49–58 (2001). Sankar, V. et al. Nature https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-025-09764-8 (2025). Trivedi, P., Steele, C. D., Au, F. K. C., Alexandrov, L. B. & Cleveland, D. W. Nature 618, 1049–1056 (2023). Nichols, A. et al. Mol. Cell 85, 2839–2853 (2025). Download references
Competing Interests The authors declare no competing interests.
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