Scientists Spot Genetic Traces of Individual Cancers

Scientists Spot Genetic Traces of Individual Cancers.
Researchers have found a modus operandi to analyze the speck of a cancer, and then use that trace to track the trajectory of that particular tumor in that particular person. "This facility will allow us to measure the amount of cancer in any clinical specimen as soon as the cancer is identified by biopsy," said reflect on co-author Dr Luis Diaz, an assistant professor of oncology at Johns Hopkins University.

And "This can then be scanned for gene rearrangements, which will then be second-hand as a template to track that exacting cancer." Diaz is one of a group of researchers from the Ludwig Center for Cancer Genetics and Therapeutics and the Howard Hughes Medical Institute at Johns Hopkins Kimmel Cancer Center that sign in on the idea in the Feb 24 issue of Science Translational Medicine. This latest finding brings scientists one motion closer to personalized cancer treatments, experts say.

But "These researchers have determinate the entire genomic sequence of several breast and colon cancers with great precision," said Katrina L Kelner, the journal's editor. "They have been able to connect small genomic rearrangements single to that tumor and, by following them over time, have been able to follow the course of the disease." One of the biggest challenges in cancer care is being able to see what the cancer is doing after surgery, chemo or radiation and, in so doing, help guide therapy decisions. "Some cancers can be monitored by CT scans or other imaging modalities, and a few have biomarkers you can follow in the blood but, to date, no infinite method of accurate surveillance exists," Diaz stated.

Almost all anthropoid cancers, however, exhibit "rearrangement" of their chromosomes. "Rearrangements are the most dramatic form of genetic changes that can occur," lucubrate co-author Dr Victor Velculescu explained, likening these arrangements to the chapters of a enlist being out of order. This type of mistake is much easier to recognize than a mere typo on one page.