Better All The Time Thanksgiving Dispatch #5
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We're counting down reasons to be thankful to live in such an amazing world all Thanksgiving weekend long. Here's item 5.
Item 5
Scientists
Decode Set of Cancer Genes
For the first time, researchers have decoded all the genes of a person with cancer and found a set of mutations that may have caused the disease or aided its progression.
Using cells donated by a woman in her 50s who died of leukemia, the scientists sequenced all the DNA from her cancer cells and compared it to the DNA from her own normal, healthy skin cells. Then, they zeroed in on 10 mutations that occurred only in the cancer cells, apparently spurring abnormal growth, preventing the cells from suppressing that growth and enabling them to fight off chemotherapy.
The Good News
Since most cancer is not inherited, understanding the mutations that contribute to cancer in an individual provides hope for providing personalized cancer therapies based on the patient's genetic profile. This could be the key to understanding why some therapies work better than others for certain patients, and helping to get all patients onto the course of treatment best suited for the way their bodies are likely to react.
Moreover, a broader understanding of the "cancer genome" can only lead to a better understanding of cancer and the development of even more effective treatments for it.
Live to see it!
