Scientists Break Cancer Gene Code: Melanoma and Lung Cancer

The gene codes for skin cancer (Melanoma) and lung cancer have been completely mapped in their entirety for the first time by scientists from Britain’s Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute and their collaborators.

According to Peter Campbell, a cancer-genomics expert that was involved in the research, there were 33,345 mutations for skin cancer and 22,910 mutations for lung cancer. They found the DNA code for skin cancer had more than 30,000 errors largely caused by too much exposure to sun. Malignant melanoma is a particularly pernicious form of skin cancer and three out of four skin cancer deaths are caused by it.

The scientists sequenced all the DNA from both tumour tissue and normal tissue from a melanoma patient and a lung cancer patient using a technology called massively parallel sequencing. By comparing the cancer sequences with the healthy ones, they were able to pick up all the changes specific to cancer. Scientists are now able to see clearly all the genes that are responsible for the two cancer types and are finally able to provide a complete list of abnormalities in DNA in each of the two deadly forms of cancer.

They researchers now believe it possible to detect cancer tumors earlier with a blood test. They will be able to observe how the cancer developed, what the exposures were and what the environmental factors were.

Other researchers around the world are also working on the genomes of other cancers – Japan is looking at liver, China stomach, and the USA at brain, ovary and pancreas. It is believed cataloguing cancer genes in patients could be routine within the next 10 years.

2 Responses to “Scientists Break Cancer Gene Code: Melanoma and Lung Cancer”

1. Johnny says:

   thAmerica/Chicagop31America/Chicago12bAmerica/ChicagoThu, 17 Dec 2009 08:57:31 -0600 1, 2008 at 8:57 am

   This is great news. Skin cancer got my mom and lung cancer got my dad. I use world community grid to do my part to help in the fight.
2. Larry Stoulil says:

   thAmerica/Chicagop31America/Chicago12bAmerica/ChicagoFri, 18 Dec 2009 06:07:21 -0600 1, 2008 at 6:07 am

   This is fantastic news for thousands & thousands of people out there, my question is when will they actual be able to start treating people that are suffering from Cancer?

   Do they have a drug already to battle this disease, and why hasn’t this news been spread across the TV’s more and to all the people in the world like it should be?

   I’ve heard more about Tiger Wood’s affair than I have this major break-through, I wish the news would keep their gossip stories more to themselfs and supply more of the news people really need to hear (hope in the future.