In the News - genetics

Scientists tie about 200 genes to cancer
The Associated Press

Published: September 7, 2006
Last Modified: September 7, 2006 at 01:55 PM

WASHINGTON (AP) - Scientists mapping genetics of two of the nation's leading cancers have found almost 200 mutated genes in breast and colorectal tumors, many of them never before suspected of helping cancer form and spread.
Doctors have long known it takes a cascade of genetic flaws to trigger any of the myriad types of cancer. Which genes are working improperly also determines if a malignancy is especially aggressive, and even whether a particular treatment is likely to work.
Finding those genes-run-amok could lead to better cancer treatments and even ways to prevent tumors. But scientists have found only a fraction of them.
Now, armed with better technology, a massive quest is beginning to comprehensively map the genetic makeup of different cancers.
On Thursday, scientists at Johns Hopkins University reported the first big success: They examined more than 13,000 genes in 11 different breast tumors and 11 colorectal cancers, removed from patients during surgery. They found 189 mutated ones that seem to play a role in those two types of cancer.
The sheer number of potential culprits was surprising; researchers had expected to find a few, not dozens.
Importantly, the work stresses that cancers differ greatly from organ to organ: Mutations in the breast tumors were substantially different from those in the colorectal tumors.
Now the harder work begins: Figuring out exactly what those altered genes do, and whether there are ways to target them.
"The large number of mutations reported in this paper offers a glimpse of what is yet to come, and provides exciting new directions for drug discovery in breast and colon cancer," said Dr. Francis Collins, genetics chief at the National Institutes of Health, which helped fund the work.