Cancer+Genome+Atlas?

When talking about the Human Genome and the efforts of the Human Genome Project, people have also evolved to investigate the treatment of various forms of cancer by looking at the genome instead of traditional means. Read more below.

Title: “Mapping the Cancer Genome”

Authors: Francis S. Collins and Anna D. Barker

Taken from Scientific American, March 2007 issue
 * //__Main Idea of article is written in bold, italicized, and underlined.__//**

It is understood that genetic mutations in our cells that cause them to replicate themselves more than necessary is what starts the development of many cancers. To make more advances in the treatment of cancer, we have to concentrate on the cellular genome because that will be the most efficient way of determining which gene mutations are most responsible for the spread of certain types of tumors. With the completion of the Human Genome Project in 2003, there have been more genes identified with significant roles in cancer, but it still isn’t enough to develop drugs and other treatments that have a specific biological target. **//__In 2006, Francis S. Collins and Anna D. Barker as a part of the National Institutes of Health officially launched an expedition in effort to create a immense, worldwide, comprehensive catalogue of the genomic changes involved in cancer now known as the Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA).__//**

See Website: **[|cancergenome.nih.gov/ media/process.asp]**

The main purpose of this endeavor is to accelerate the identification of weaknesses with cancerous tumors and to develop straightforward techniques for attacking those weaknesses. Most of these cells acquire several of these mutations years before the first signs of cancer appear. Even with all of this information, people are still skeptical on how this actually makes a difference in the care of cancer patients. The discovery of an abundant mutation of a gene called B-RAF has led to successful clinical trials of drugs meant to treat a form of skin cancer by reducing the activity of this gene.

One of the main problems that researchers are running into is the fact that they have to avoid paying attention to “useless mutations” that have no relation to the cancer-related ones. Over the next three years, researchers will be focusing on brain, lung, and ovarian cancer as a trial to see if they should continue with the entire cancer genome. Patient samples will be sent to characterization centers and from there, they will be sent to genome sequencing centers. Information will be sent to data coordinating centers and eventually, published in a worldwide research database that will be available to the scientific community. There are economical and ethical issues behind this project, but if this endeavor proves to be successful, the possibilities for reforming cancer treatment are endless.

No sources provided because all information is summarized and taken directly from the article itself. See also: Nova- Genome Summary