To understand the selection mechanism behind mutations, network - based studies were used to estimate the importance
of a mutated protein compared to non-mutated ones in signalling and protein — protein interaction networks.10, 11,12,13 Proteins mutated in cancer were found having a high number
of interacting partners (i.e., a high
degree of connectivity), which indicates high local importance.10 Mutated proteins are also often found in the centre
of the network, in key
global positions, as quantified by the number
of shortest paths passing through them if all proteins are connected with each other (i.e., they have high betweenness centrality; hereafter called betweenness).11, 12 Mutated proteins also have high clustering coefficients, which means their neighbours are also neighbours
of each other.10, 13 Moreover, neighbourhood analysis
of mutated proteins have been previously successfully used to predict novel cancer - related genes.14, 15 However, to the best
of our knowledge, no study has concentrated particularly on the topological importance
of first neighbours
of mutated proteins in cancer, and their usefulness as drug targets themselves.