Origin of mutation and risk of cancer

The title of this article, Origin of Mutation and Risk of Cancer, was also the title of the recent Kyoto University Radiation Biology Center Workshop, held in Kyoto, 2-3 March 1993. The aim of the workshop was to summarise current knowledge of mechanisms of mutation, explore ways in which such knowledge contributes to understanding the process of carcinogenesis and, further cancer risk estimation. This article takes some of the major themes of the Workshop to discuss, in a broader fashion, the events which are thought to change a normal cell into a cancer cell. (Author)