Dr. John McPherson of the Ontario Institute for Cancer Research, which will co-ordinate and hold the data connected to cancer genome research.
Changing the way we look at disease
September 05, 2008
Health Reporter
Scientists can now peer deeper than ever into the origins of cancer with the help of "next generation" genome sequencing technologies.
Experts say these new technologies, which allow scientists to rapidly probe every gene within a genome, herald a new era of cancer discovery.
By exploring the genomes of different cancers, scientists hope to understand the complex molecular mechanisms that cause cancers to grow and spread throughout the body. Having a complete genetic portrait of each cancer type will likely lead to new ways to diagnose, treat and prevent the disease.
Last April, cancer researchers from around the world banded together to launch the International Cancer Genome Consortium, one of the largest global research efforts since scientists cracked the human genome. Within 10 years, the consortium, in which Toronto scientists play a lead role, plans to map the genetic mutations that drive 50 of the most common cancers.
The Ontario Institute for Cancer Research, or OICR, will host the consortium's secretariat and house its data co-ordination centre – predicted to be the largest health informatics database in the world. Ten countries have signed on to the consortium, each pledging to map the genome of a different cancer and contribute at least $20 million to sequence 500 unique samples.
The centre plans to map the genetic mutations involved in pancreatic cancer, one of the deadliest types of cancer. Last year, more than 7.5 million people worldwide died of cancer and more than 12 million new cases were diagnosed.
The three studies released yesterday represent stepping stones towards the consortium's main goal of having a comprehensive catalogue of all the genomic abnormalities in different cancers, said Dr. John McPherson, director of the cancer genome program at the research centre.
All cancers are driven by abnormalities in DNA. The new research suggests that, for most cancers, the abnormalities result from mistakes in genetic pathways, rather than in specific so-called "master" genes. And that, said McPherson, is likely where researchers will now turn their attention.
"This is a shift in how people are looking at cancer," he said. "These publications represent some of the first in this line of thinking."