Scientists identify mutation patterns in healthy stomach lining, offering new insights into the earliest steps of cancer ...

Medically reviewed by Marla Anderson, MD Stomach cancer—or gastric cancer—occurs when cells in the lining of the stomach wall ...

For the first time, scientists have systematically analyzed somatic mutations in stomach lining tissue to unpick mutational processes, some of which can lead to cancer.

The study found that gastric cells in some individuals carried three copies of certain chromosomes, hinting toward exposure to an unknown mutagen.

However, in people with gastric cancer, some of the glands from the normal, non-cancerous stomach lining showed changes under the microscope that resembled the early stages of transitioning to cancer.