Scientists Decode Cancer Cell DNA

CBS Evening News: Landmark Project Maps Entire Genome Of Cancer Cells, Pinpointing Mutations

(CBS)  Scientists reported decoding the entire genetics of a cancer cell. They did it by analyzing the cells of a woman with leukemia, reports CBS News medical correspondent Dr. Jon LaPook.

"This is a landmark, this is the first time we've had the complete DNA instruction book, of a cancer cell," said Dr. Francis Collins, the former director of the National Human Genome Research Institute.

Richard Wilson, a Ph.D. at the Washington University School of Medicine said: "We found 10 changes; 10 mutations in her tumor genome that may very well be related to her disease."

This may revolutionize the most advanced type of cancer treatments, called targeted therapies.

Right now, targeted therapy involves attacking cancer cells, but not normal cells. For example, the drug Herceptin works by selectively attacking a receptor found on the surface of breast cancer cells.

In the patient with leukemia, scientists went past the surface of the cell, all the way to the center - or nucleus - and examined the DNA, the blueprint for the entire body. By comparing DNA from the patient's cancerous blood cells with DNA from her own normal skin, the researchers found changes present in genes of her leukemia, but not in the genes of her skin.

"What's new here is that this entire encyclopedia of a cancer cell, which is 400 Encylopedia Britannicas lined up end to end, has actually been read out for the first time for a particular leukemia," Collins said.

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On The Early Show Saturday Edition, Dr. Ezekiel Emanuel, chairman of the Department of Bioethics at the National Institutes of Health, home to the Cancer Genome Atlas Project, threw up some caution flags concerning the new development.

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"The ultimate hope is that you would look at someone's DNA and you'd say 'I know how to treat you based what I found in your genes,'" Wilson said. "'And why you are different than the patient I saw with the same disease an hour ago.'"

The hope of truly personalized medicine is what drove researchers to study the inner-workings of cells.

"Cancer is a disease of the DNA, and we need to understand what goes wrong at the level of DNA, before we can really get good at understanding, diagnosing, and better treating the disease," Wilson said.

"It will result in a revolution in medicine that I believe will only be matched by the discovery of antibiotics," Collins said.

It took about seven years and $300 million to sequence the first human genome. Over the next few years, it's predicted to take only minutes and cost less than $1,000.

For now, it's still a research tool, and cancer patients shouldn't expect immediate treatments. But doctors hope it will have real-life applications within the decade.

[jodiejourney]

For someone like me, who almost died from advanced Lymphoma and who has been fighting the disease for the last three years--this is awesome news. Anyone who has anything negitive to say about this, must not understand who it feels to go through chemo--it''s just awful! My full story is on: www.jodiesjourney.com
Blessings, Jodie Guerrero.

[bioresearch]

It is becoming clearer than ever that we are not destined to live with the genetic inheritance of our parents and ancestors. First it was announced by Dr. Sinclair at Harvard that transmax resveratrol, a commercial extract of a red wine molecule produced by biotivia used by scientists at the NIH in human trials, was able to switch on the SirT1 anti-aging gene and prevent the normal diseases of aging. Then scientists reported that a drug called Aircar that had been around for decades is capable or making sedentary mice into olympic contenders by modifying their muscles and increasing their endurance. Soon after that Harvard announced a way to create customized stem cells to treat specific diseases. In ten years we will hopefully wean ourselves from synthetic drugs by either preventing disease or treating it with our own body''s defenses.

[cbscrash072]

I read about this a year ago in Popular Science. Way to stay up to date CBS. Hopefully it wont be to long before you do an article on Epi-Genetics. Maybe an article on Nvidias partnership with Stanford called Folding at Home. Where people donate computer processing time and help researchers fold proteins. Think of it as virtual stem cell research.

[catherine195]

...follow-up to my own posting - this is exactly why President-elect Obama MUST support stem cell research.

[catherine195]

WOW - this is HUGE!!! Now here''s a great piece of news that everyone can sink their teeth into! This is why I LOVE researchers. Three cheers for them on this DNA genome discovery.