The research has benefits beyond breast cancer, with the techniques easily adaptable to other types of cancer.
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The NZ Breast Cancer Foundation says the news study could unlock new treatments.
He said: “This study both gave us the first large-scale view of the rest of the genome, uncovering some new reasons why breast cancer arises, and gave us an unexpected way to characterise the types of mutations that happen in certain breast cancers”.
While some medicines, such as breast cancer “wonder drug” Herceptin, are already matched to a woman’s DNA, doctors want to be able to give every woman customised treatment.
The findings reveal that prostate cancer and breast cancer may share the same faulty gene, and although previous research has shown these cancers may run in families the new study highlights the significance of this faulty gene.
That means there will likely be a much smaller financial incentive to develop drugs for the 83 other genes and their mutations. It is a step closer to personalised healthcare for cancer’.
“So in the future, when more genes have been identified, more womens’ lives will be saved because those people can be identified that have a much higher risk of developing those breast cancers”.
This video includes clips from WKRC and the American Cancer Society, and images from Ed Uthman / CC BY 2.0, National Cancer Institute and Getty Images.
Scientists have analyzed the genomes of cancerous tissue from 560 patients with breast cancer, four of whom were men, providing more comprehensive information on genetic mutations in the killer disease.
The findings included five new genes associated with cancer and 13 new mutations that influence the development of a tumour. They also found 12 genetic patterns linked with breast cancer.
The landmark research paves the way for new and better treatments – as well as ways of preventing the disease ever occurring.
Researchers hope that the findings could finally lead to ways of reducing the risk of cancers.
The discovery could be used to classify patients more accurately for treatment, researchers said.
The discovery by an worldwide team, led by the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute, could be used to classify patients more accurately and therefore be able to have specifically targeted treatment.
Dr Emma Smith, from Cancer Research UK, said: “This study brings us closer to getting a complete picture of the genetic changes at the heart of breast cancer and throws up intriguing clues about the key biological processes that go wrong in cells and drive the disease”.
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Treatment for breast cancer might become personalized after the successful gene sequencing of 560 breast cancers.
