Cancer Gene-Path Traced

Cancer Gene-Path Traced

For the first time the researchers have decoded all the genes of a person with cancer and found mutations that might have caused the disease. Using cells donated by a woman in her 50s who died of Leukaemia, the scientists sequenced all the DNA from her cancer cells and compared it to the DNA from her own normal, healthy skin cells .

What is string that these researchers were able to sift through the three billion pairs of chemical bases that make up the human genome to pull out the patient’s Cancer. The finding sets the stage for using a more comprehensive, genome-wide approach to unravel genetic basis of cancer.

‘’The work demonstrates the power of sequencing entire genomes to discover novel cancer-related mutations’’, said Professor Richard Km. Wilson, the team leader and director of the Genome Sequencing Cancer at Washington University.

‘’A genome–wide understanding of cancer, which is now possible with faster and cheaper DNA sequencing technology, is the foundation for developing more effective ways to diagnose and treat cancer ‘’,he said. The finding will not help patients immediately, but the researchers say they could lead to new therapies and would almost certainly help doctors make better choices among existing treatments, based on a more detailed genetic picture of each patient’s cancer

The scientists hoped that in five years, decoding a patients cancer genome would consist of dropping a spot of blood onto a chip that slides into a computer and getting a report on which drugs will work best.