Skip to main content
driver

driver

5 8.6
A change in genes that helps cancer start or grow
  • noun
  • /ˈdraɪvər/
  • Specialized
translation icon : mutación conductora
  • In 2012, an extensive analysis of coding exons of 21,416 genes in 100 breast cancers identified novel driver genes, including CDKN1B153.

Examples

  • However, only a limited number of these mutations give a selective advantage and might be considered driver mutations and not passenger changes.

    Academic text (2017)
  • In many cancers, specific mutations are recognized as drivers that lead to disease progression.

  • So obesity is now the second most prevalent environmental driver of cancer.

  • Mutations in oncogenes or tumor suppressor genes, and we call these mutations driver mutations.

  • The research identified several genetic alterations that act as drivers of tumor growth.

  • Scientists are studying how certain genetic changes serve as drivers in the development of cancer.

Compounds

67 1.2

A person who moves goods long distances in a large truck

66 1.0

A person who takes people around by bus

42 1.0

A person who drives people in a taxi for money

A person chosen not to drink so they can drive others home safely

slave driver
  • Offensive
5 7.5

A person who makes other people work very hard in a harsh, unfair way

2 2.8

A person who drives cars in races at high speed

device driver
  • Specialized
1 3.9

A small program that lets a computer use hardware like a printer or keyboard

backseat driver
  • Offensive
1 4.4

A person who gives unwanted advice to the driver

pile driver
  • Specialized
1 6.8

A heavy machine that drives long posts into the ground for building foundations

Sunday driver
  • Offensive
1 7.3

A person who drives slowly and too carefully, annoying other drivers

1 4.2

A soldier who controls a military tank

slave-driver
  • Offensive
1 7.5

A person who forces others to work very hard and treats them badly

driver ant
  • South African
1 9.1

A large tropical ant that moves in long lines and hunts other insects

1 3.3

A person who controls a train's engine

A person who drives a car, especially in races at high speed

back-seat driver
  • Offensive
1 5.3

A person who gives unwanted advice while someone else does a task

1 2.5

A person who drives a boat that carries people or cars across water

1 5.5

A person who drives a taxi or hired car and gets paid

graphics driver
  • Specialized
1 4.2

A computer program that helps the operating system talk to the screen or graphics card

test driver
  • Specialized
1 4.1

A person who drives new cars to see how they work

A person who leads mules to carry goods

ghost driver
  • Specialized
8.9

A person or system that controls a car when no one can be seen inside

hack-driver
  • Archaic
9.2

A person who drives a taxi for a living

hack driver
  • Archaic
7.4

A person who takes people somewhere in a taxi for money

quill-driver
  • Archaic
9.9

An old-fashioned name for a person who writes for a living, often doing simple forms

4.1

A person who has a vehicle and uses it themselves for work or travel

test driver
  • Specialized
4.2

A program that runs tests and records results for another system

9.9

A brown wading bird like a small heron that lives in reeds and makes a loud booming call

How Influential

catalyst
55 5.0
impactor
7.0
driver
  • Specialized
5 8.6
factor
2.1
contributor
136 3.6

Surface Forms

driver singular
drivers plural

Morphology

driver = drive (semi-transparent) = drive + er

Formed by the regular agentive suffix '-er' on 'drive', but the genetics sense is a specialized metaphorical extension ('something that drives cancer'), so the meaning is not fully obvious to all learners.

Etymology

Driver in medicine comes from the idea of 'drive' as 'to push forward', so a driver mutation is one that pushes cancer growth and helps the disease move ahead.