Global S&T Development Trend Analysis Platform of Resources and Environment
All normal somatic cells are thought to acquire mutations, but understanding of the rates, patterns, causes and consequences of somatic mutations in normal cells is limited. The uterine endometrium adopts multiple physiological states over a lifetime and is lined by a gland-forming epithelium(1,2). Here, using whole-genome sequencing, we show that normal human endometrial glands are clonal cell populations with total mutation burdens that increase at about 29 base substitutions per year and that are many-fold lower than those of endometrial cancers. Normal endometrial glands frequently carry '
Whole-genome sequencing of normal human endometrial glands shows that most are clonal cell populations and frequently carry cancer driver mutations that occur early in life, and that parity has a protective effect.