clues about cancer. sequencing of tumor DNA can find changes that stimulate the growth of cancer cells.
NHGRI
cancer researchers who have spent the last 7 years to compile a catalog of mutations in the tumors of patients are now talking about what to do. This week, researchers from the National Cancer Institute (NCI) announced a project on their wish list: a much broader survey of 10,000 tumors by type of cancer that would aim to identify the genes of rare cancer.
Next year will end NCI Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA), a huge project piloted in 06 that is systematically looking tumors genetic changes involved in cancer. More than 150 cancer researchers have divvied sequencing work about 500 tumor samples for each of certain types of cancer 20 (10,000 samples in total) at a cost of more than $ 375 million. TCGA checked the known cancer genes and found new genetic changes lead some cancers; although the project was criticized as too expensive, many researchers believe that this has been helpful.
So what? On Monday at a meeting of the NCI Board of Scientific Advisors (BSA), NCI cancer geneticists and Louis Staudt Stephen Chanock sketched an idea that emerged from a recent workshop TCGA (starts at 116: 00 on video). Staudt explained that because the tumors are often riddled with mutations that are implicated in cancer, it is difficult to choose those that count. Even some cancer genes known to lung adenocarcinoma, one of the most intensively studied cancers, have not jumped into the investigation of the cancer genome. To find rare cancer genes, researchers need to sequence many more samples, he said.
Staudt then described what he called "The Concept 10K." The idea is to sequence 10,000 tumor samples for each of several common cancers, such as breast and prostate. This should be enough to find mutations that occur in as little as 1% of the samples, Staudt said. The project should also try to link the genetic results of an individual patient with the results and the lifestyle of clinical factors such as smoking, which TCGA did not.
Find 10,000 tumors for each cancer may be easier than it sounds, Staudt said. One reason is that researchers recently realized that tumor biopsies preserved in paraffin, the most common method may be used for sequencing studies and gene expression. It is a "game changer," according to Staudt. Until now, researchers thought they had TCGA using frozen samples, which are much rarer.
The project would also save money by collecting tumor samples from completed clinical trials and observational studies, as well as piggyback on planned studies. For example, a new lung cancer NCI trial will test called Alchemist 7000 tumors "patients to find the 16% with two mutated genes specific; only patients continue in the treatment portion of the study. But biopsies of all 7000 patients could be part of a project of 10,000 lung cancer genomes, said Staudt.
Staudt acknowledged that, with NCI facing a budget reduction of 5%, it is a great time to offer a large new research project. And several members of BSA spoke skeptically of "diminishing returns" over genomes of cancer. Bruce Stillman, president of Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory in New York, said that although there was a "strong supporter" of TCGA, scaling up to 10,000 tumors for cancer "is not very reasonable for moment." Stillman stressed that the discovery of the breast cancer risk genes BRCA1 and BRCA2 inspired a push to find breast cancer genes more families who do not give much. Instead, NCI should focus on learning more from data already collected by TCGA, as the exploration of biological pathways, Stillman suggested.
Staudt said Science Insider that NCI has not a price tag for the proposed genomes from 10,000 cancer. It is just one of several being considered for follow TCGA; its fate will depend on other priorities of the NCI, he said. He warned that it is only at the discussion stage. "This is not a" project ". It is a concept that may or may not turn into a project," he said.
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