Genetic map identifies cancer genes

GOOD ARTICLE ! HOPEFULLY RESEARCH WILL CONTINUE AND CANCER WILL BE UNDERSTOOD MORE THAN IT IS NOW AND IT CAN BE STOPPED IN ITS TRACKS. IT HAS KILLED SO MANY PEOPLE IN THIS WORLD.


Genetic map identifies cancer genes
By Maggie Fox in Washington
September 08, 2006 12:00
THE first genetic map of colon and breast cancer shows that nearly 200 mutated genes - most of them previously unknown - help tumours start, grow and spread, US researchers reported.
The findings could lead to new treatments for cancer, better ways to diagnose it, and certainly will provide insights into the second-leading cause of death in the developed world, the researchers said.
Dr Kenneth Kinzler of Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, who helped lead the study, said it showed that cancer was more complex than even experts in the genetics of the disease had believed.
“There are a lot of mutated genes,” Dr Kinzler said.
“A lot of things seem to have gone wrong.”
“We expected to find a handful of genes, not 200,” added Tobias Sjoblom, the principal author of the study.
The researchers said they had identified 189 genes, with an average of 11 per tumour, that were clearly mutated in breast and colon tumours.
“The vast majority of these genes were not known to be genetically altered in tumours and are predicted to affect a wide range of cellular functions, including transcription, adhesion, and invasion,” they wrote in their report published in the journal Science.
The team, including researchers at the University of South Carolina and Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland, looked at 11 samples each from breast and colon tumours surgically removed from patients.