Hundreds of researchers from around the world have worked on the genome sequencing of more than 2,600 tumours. This program, called the “Pan Cancer Project”, makes it possible to better understand the genetic mutations in 38 distinct types of cancer. A tool that sheds light on the extreme variety of tumors with lessons to be learned in terms of prevention and treatment.
It is to date the most complete work carried out on the sequencing of the genome of cancerous tumours. Distributed throughout the world, 1,300 researchers relied on the sequencing of the whole genome of 2,600 tumors corresponding to 38 distinct types of cancer to better understand the genetic mutations involved in the onset and development of the disease. This analysis, called the “Pan Cancer Project” was published on February 5 in the journal Nature.
Cancer is a disease linked to genetic mutations that modify the normal process of cell growth regulation, hence the importance of tumor genome sequencing. This sheds light on the genetic mutations that cause the appearance and multiplication of cancer cells, on the differences between tumors for the same disease from one individual to another and on common points that can be found. in different types of cancer.
“A large number of possible genetic mutations for each tumor”
The work carried out within the framework of the “Pan Cancer Project” which demonstrates “the large number of possible genetic mutations for each tumor and the difference that there can be between the cancer of one patient and that of another”, are moreover well in line with developments in the management of cancerous diseases. These are based more and more on the fact that each tumour, and therefore each patient, is unique and that treatments, thanks in particular to the processing of data collected from all patients, must be individualised.
Although the scientists who took part in the “Pan Cancer Project” recognize that their work has no immediate therapeutic applications, they underline the interest it presents for prevention and the improvement of care. “The knowledge accumulated on the origin and evolution of tumors could make it possible to develop new tools to detect cancers earlier and to develop more targeted therapies”, explains Doctor Lincoln Stein, one of the pilots of the project, quoted by the website of the Express.
Similar mutations in cancers affecting different parts of the body
Among this knowledge, some are likely to make things happen quickly. The analyzes carried out thus demonstrate that the genetic mutations at the origin of cancers can sometimes begin in childhood, that is to say decades before conventional diagnostics can identify the disease. A real advance in prevention.
Another advance that can lead to rapid improvement in cancer care is the fact that similar mutations have been observed in cancers affecting different parts of the body. “There are certain breast and prostate cancers in which similar mutations have been identified, which means that a patient with prostate cancer could benefit from treatments usually administered in breast cancer”, specifies Joachim Weischenfeldt, another scientist who participated in the work of the “Pan Cancer Project”.
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