EPIGENETICS AND GENETICS A census of amplified and overexpressed human cancer genes

Integrated genome-wide screens of DNA copy number and gene expression in human cancers have accelerated the rate of discovery of amplified and overexpressed genes. However, the biological importance of most of the genes identified in such studies remains unclear. In this Analysis, we propose a weight-of-evidence based classification system for identifying individual genes in amplified regions that are selected for during tumour development. In a census of the published literature we have identified 77 genes for which there is good evidence of involvement in the development of human cancer.