#Scientists crack 'entire genetic code' of cancer
5295 Dead, 428 since 1/20/09
Scientists crack 'entire genetic code' of cancer
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Professor Mike Stratton: "This is a fundamental moment in cancer research"
By Michelle Roberts
Health reporter, BBC News
Scientists have unlocked the entire genetic code of two of the most
common cancers - skin and lung - a move they say could revolutionise
cancer care.
Not only will the cancer maps pave the way for blood tests to spot
tumours far earlier, they will also yield new drug targets, says the
Wellcome Trust team.
Scientists around the globe are now working to catalogue all the genes
that go wrong in many types of human cancer.
The UK is looking at breast cancer, Japan at liver and India at mouth.
China is studying stomach cancer, and the US is looking at cancers of the
brain, ovary and pancreas.
These catalogues are going to change the way we think about individual
cancers
Wellcome Trust scientist Professor Michael Stratton
The International Cancer Genome Consortium scientists from the 10
countries involved say it will take them at least five years and many
hundreds of thousands of dollars to complete this mammoth task.
But once they have done this, patients will reap the benefits.
Professor Michael Stratton, who is the UK lead, said: "These catalogues
are going to change the way we think about individual cancers.
"By identifying all the cancer genes we will be able to develop new drugs
that target the specific mutated genes and work out which patients will
benefit from these novel treatments.
"We can envisage a time when following the removal of a cancer
cataloguing it will become routine."
It could even be possible to develop MoT-style blood tests for healthy
adults that can check for tell-tale DNA patterns suggestive of cancer.
Russian roulette
The scientists found the DNA code for a skin cancer called melanoma
contained more than 30,000 errors almost entirely caused by too much sun
exposure.
Most of the time the mutations will land in innocent parts of the genome,
but some will hit the right targets for cancer
Wellcome Trust researcher Dr Peter Campbell
The lung cancer DNA code had more than 23,000 errors largely triggered by
cigarette smoke exposure.
From this, the experts estimate a typical smoker acquires one new
mutation for every 15 cigarettes they smoke.
Although many of these mutations will be harmless, some will trigger
cancer.
Wellcome Trust researcher Dr Peter Campbell, who conducted this research,
published in the journal Nature, said: "It's like playing Russian
roulette.
"Most of the time the mutations will land in innocent parts of the
genome, but some will hit the right targets for cancer."
By quitting smoking, people could reduce their cancer risk back down to
"normal" with time, he said.
The suspicion is lung cells containing mutations are eventually replaced
with new ones free of genetic errors.
By studying the cancer catalogues in detail, the scientists say it should
be possible to find exactly which lifestyle and environmental factors
trigger different tumours.
Treatment and prevention
Tom Haswell, who was successfully treated 15 years ago for lung cancer,
believes the research will benefit the next generation:
"For future patients I think it's tremendous news because hopefully
treatments can be targeted to their particular genome mutations,
hopefully... reducing some of the side effects we get".
Cancer experts have applauded the work.
The Institute of Cancer Research said: "This is the first time that a
complete cancer genome has been sequenced and similar insights into other
cancer genomes are likely to follow.
"As more cancer genomes are revealed by this technique, we will gain a
greater understanding of how cancer is caused and develops, improving our
ability to prevent, treat and cure cancer."
Professor Carlos Caldas, from Cancer Research UK's Cambridge Research
Institute called the research "groundbreaking".
"Like molecular archaeologists, these researchers have dug through layers
of genetic information to uncover the history of these patients' disease.
"What is so new in this study is the researchers have been able to link
particular mutations to their cause.
"The hope and excitement for the future is that we will eventually have
detailed picture of how different cancers develop, and ultimately how
better to treat and prevent them."
--
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lab~rat >:-)
<de...@dead.com> puked:
>http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/8414124.stm
>
>
>Scientists crack 'entire genetic code' of cancer
>Advertisement
>
>Professor Mike Stratton: "This is a fundamental moment in cancer research"
>By Michelle Roberts
>Health reporter, BBC News
>
>Scientists have unlocked the entire genetic code of two of the most
>common cancers - skin and lung - a move they say could revolutionise
>cancer care.
This is great news. Hopefully it will lead to a cure to ultimately
all forms of cancer.
--
lab~rat >:-)
Do you want polite or do you want sincere?
Matt
> On Wed, 16 Dec 2009 21:25:08 -0600, "5295 Dead, 428 since 1/20/09"
>
> >http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/8414124.stm
>
> >Scientists crack 'entire genetic code' of cancer
> >Advertisement
>
> >Professor Mike Stratton: "This is a fundamental moment in cancer research"
> >By Michelle Roberts
> >Health reporter, BBC News
>
> >Scientists have unlocked the entire genetic code of two of the most
> >common cancers - skin and lung - a move they say could revolutionise
> >cancer care.
>
> This is great news. Hopefully it will lead to a cure to ultimately
> all forms of cancer.
Or at least to some sort of vaccine or better treatment than chemo.
Good news indeed.
Matt
5295 Dead, 428 since 1/20/09
It's a big step forward.
Phlip
> of genetic information to uncover the history of these patients' disease.
Our DNA contains both expressed genes and latent genes that nothing
has edited out. They are available for mutations, to drive evolution.
Put another way, evolution is so useful that no evolutionary pressure
has cleaned up all this dead code. It's the equivalent of programmer
source code that's commented out, so the CPU won't run it.
The strongest and oldest latent DNA codes for a creature that behaves
like a fungus. Individual cells can live alone, and if enough of them
colonize one area they can merge and differentiate into a fruiting
body. This releases spores.
Cancer occurs when genetic damage knocks out our more complex genes,
and releases the primitive ones. Cancerous cells forsake their
allegiance to our body, and think they are living in nutritious dirt.
Then they form a fruiting body - the tumor. This releases spores which
doctors detect, and call "metastasis". That's why the cancer spreads
as a single event. the tumor is releasing spores in a timed event. The
cancer spreads when the spores settle in other areas of the body and
start growing tumors.