Souce: The Guargian
Genetic map of cancer reveals trails of mutation that lead to disease
Map shows how 20 patterns of mutation drive 30 cancer types, pointing the way to prevention and treatment strategies
Researchers at the Sanger Institute explain how they identified the patterns of mutation underlying cancer
The first detailed map of genetic faults that cause cancers is published today, offering profound insights into the disease.
The map describes more than 20 “genetic signatures”, or patterns of mutation, that alone or in combination drive 30 different types of cancer, including brain, lung, pancreas and breast tumours.
Independent cancer specialists who have seen the research said it was “extremely important” and was likely to lead to new strategies to prevent and ultimately treat the disease.
While scientists know, or have a good idea about, the causes of around half of the genetic signatures behind cancers, the rest are a mystery. They may be due to chemicals in the environment, or faults that arise during ageing.
Most cancers are thought to be caused by mutations in DNA, perhaps triggered by chemicals or radiation, which go unrepaired and build up over a person’s lifetime. The mutations eventually lead to uncontrolled cell proliferation.
The causes of some cancers are well understood.
Too much ultraviolet (UV) light from the sun’s rays causes mutations in skin cells, and if those mutations fall in certain genes in one cell, the cell becomes a cancer. Similarly, the chemicals in tobacco smoke cause mutations in mouth, throat and lung cells, and lead directly to tumours in those areas.
“What is remarkable is how little we know about the processes that are causing the mutations in other types of cancer,” said Mike Stratton, the lead author on the study and director of the Sanger Institute in Cambridge. “That is the question we set out to address.”
His team studied more than 7,000 genomes from cancer patients. By comparing the DNA of cancer cells with that of healthy cells in the same patients, they spotted patterns of mutations that arose in common forms of the disease.