A synthetic lethal interaction occurs between two genes when the perturbation of either gene alone is viable but the perturbation of both genes simultaneously results in the loss of viability. Key to exploiting synthetic lethality in cancer treatment are the identification and the mechanistic characterization of robust synthetic lethal genetic interactions. Advances in next-generation sequencing technologies are enabling the identification of hundreds of tumour-specific mutations and alterations in gene expression that could be targeted by a synthetic lethality approach. The translation of synthetic lethality to therapy will be assisted by the synthesis of genetic interaction data from model organisms, tumour genomes and human cell lines.

中文翻译：

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合成杀伤力和癌症

当单独一个基因的扰动是可行的，但是两个基因的扰动同时导致生存力丧失时，两个基因之间会发生合成的致命相互作用。在癌症治疗中利用合成致死性的关键是可靠的合成致死性遗传相互作用的鉴定和机理表征。下一代测序技术的进步使人们能够鉴定出数百种特定于肿瘤的突变和基因表达的改变，这些可能是合成杀伤性方法所针对的。合成杀伤力向治疗的转化将通过合成来自模型生物，肿瘤基因组和人类细胞系的遗传相互作用数据而得到帮助。