First glimpse into Cancer Genome Project
Friday, 23 July, 2010
Initial data from the world’s largest ever study correlating the genes of cancer sufferers with their responses to medications have been released indicating the potential for promising future treatments.
The five-year Cancer Genome Project is being conducted by researchers at the Massachusetts General Hospital Cancer Center and the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute in the UK, who hope to identify optimal combinations of treatments for several cancers.
Patients’ response to therapeutic treatments for cancer and many other diseases is widely assumed to be influenced by their individual genetic make-up, however scientists’ understanding of the exact relationship has been limited to date.
The cancer genome data, which was made publicly available this week on the Genomics of Drug Sensitivity in cancer website, suggest, however, that real progress is being made.
Looking at the responses of 350 cancer samples to 18 anti-cancer therapeutics, researchers correlated drug sensitivity with measurements of mutations in key cancer genes, structural changes in the cancer cells and differences in gene activity. They found several genes that predict therapeutic response in various cancer types. For instance, melanoma, which has mutations in the BRAF gene, was shown by the researchers to be sensitive to molecular therapeutics targeting this protein.
"Today is our first glimpse of this complex interface, where genomes meet cancer medicine," said Dr Andy Futreal, co-leader of the Cancer Genome Project at the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute. "We will, over the course of this work, add to this picture, identifying genetic changes that can inform clinical decisions, with the hope of improving treatment.
Throughout the course of the study a total of 1000 cancer cell lines including breast, lung and colorectal will be exposed to 400 anticancer treatments with the results to be collated and made publicly available.
It is hoped that the results will lead to novel treatments targeting a range of cancers.
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