Scientists crack 'entire genetic code' of cancer

[eppur_se_muova]

Source: BBC

By Michelle Roberts
Health reporter, BBC News


Scientists have unlocked the entire genetic code of two of the most common cancers - skin and lung - a move they say could revolutionise cancer care.

Not only will the cancer maps pave the way for blood tests to spot tumours far earlier, they will also yield new drug targets, says the Wellcome Trust team.
***
The UK is looking at breast cancer, Japan at liver and India at mouth.

China is studying stomach cancer, and the US is looking at cancers of the brain, ovary and pancreas.



Read more: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/health/8414124.stm

---

:wow::wow::wow:

Usual Disclaimer: Expect at least five years for clinically useful results.

[rurallib]

1. And few in the US will be able to afford to use it

no doubt some drug company will get a patent on it and make it exorbitantly high.
(bad day on the HC front for me.)

[FiveGoodMen]

4. Agreed.

[DBoon]

8. life itself has become a luxury good

only the wealthy can afford to live

[WriteDown]

11. True and not true...

How much do you think it cost to crack the entire code of cancer? I honestly have no idea, but I'm imagining its expensive. I'm always curious what people think is a fair price for these discoveries/treatments though.

[rurallib]

13. And was it government paid scientists that did it or was it

totally paid for by private industry.
I know much of what drug companies end up selling is based on research at universities etc.

[WriteDown]

18. Either way there is a cost...

Either a tax cost or a private cost or both. I am just always curious what people think is a fair price for full medical care 24/7.

[No Elephants]

40. There really is no "private" cost. Either the government funds research, courtesy of taxpayers, or

private companies fund research, courtesy of the consumer. Either way, the public absorbs the cost.

But, what's your point? That a lot of things costs money?

[ImOnlySleeping]

20. I don't know why noone reads anything anymore

The International Cancer Genome Consortium scientists from the 10 countries involved say it will take them at least five years and many hundreds of thousands of dollars to complete this mammoth task.

The funding for the UK team mentioned comes from http://www.wellcome.ac.uk/

The ICGC's policies and guidelines are very specific http://icgc.org/icgc_document/policies_and_guidelines/intellectual_property_policy

"The objective of ICGC policy regarding intellectual property (IP) policy is to maximize public benefit from data produced by the Consortium. It is the view of the ICGC members that this goal is achieved if the data remain publicly accessible without any restrictions."

[No Elephants]

42. I don't know either. Maybe his personal appearance schedule doesn't leave him enough time?

(I apologize wholeheartedly. Usually, I find people who publicly go after typos, spelling, grammar and usage much too pisant for my taste. This one was so cute, though, I just could not resist. So, I joined the pisant hill.)

[JDPriestly]

33. Much of the expense was borne by taxpayers here and abroad

Cracking the genome in the first place was done at universities in laboratories. This work also, is in great part done by research centers, some associated with private companies, but many sponsored by government grants and located in universities.

[fascisthunter]

23. if you can't afford to live, you die

this is what America has come to...

in other words, nobody gives a shit about America or Americans,
amongst all the jingoism, a smell so rotten it peels those stripes off our flag.
All that's left behind is red.

[kickysnana]

26. +++1

[slackmaster]

28. No, becoming immune to those cancers will turn out to be something ridiculously simple

Like drinking as much as possible, avoiding TV, and doing whatever your cats tell you to do.

[Posteritatis]

32. But what if my cats tell me to get cancer? (nt)

[slackmaster]

38. Then it is your destiny

[Jax]

50. +1,000,000

My parents both died of different types of cancer 20 years apart.

The bullshit 'treatment' was much the same.

Rich will win out as usual, no money in really 'curing' the rest of us peasants.

Alyce

[Romulox]

2. k/r. nt

[nradisic]

3. Very cool...

Watch for new designer drugs soon....and I bet they will work at destroying the big C...awesome!

[valerief]

5. Good luck to the very wealthy who will benefit from this. The rest of us can

only hope to die quickly. We won't benefit.

[truedelphi]

7. That is my take on the genetic maneuvers also.

Plus it skews that fact that if you live inside a decent environment, with decent food, the genes-disease link is much less relevant.

Perhaps fifty percent of all American Indians have the genes for diabetes. But give them a life with lots of phsical activity and pure protein - no artifical overly processed white flour and wheat, and you wouldn't know they are susceoptible to the illness.

[kimmerspixelated]

14. Exactly right!

Natural purity has always been the answer.

[Teaser]

29. there is no nature. there is no purity.

and there never has been.

[BadgerKid]

21. Very diplomatically stated.

In other words, one should avoid burning one's skin and avoid smoke/smoking.

[truedelphi]

35. I really wish it was that simple.

Where one works takes a huge toll.

For instance as someone who has worked in the Health Field for 20 years, I was astounded to find out that the Health Care field is one of the top three fields in terms of being dangerous...

Why? Because of all the Lysols, disinfectants, Alkyl chems and the odor eliminators (Which do not actually eliminate odors - what they do is they cripple your nose's ability to detect an odor!)

We have benzene in our Glade nd Lysols, we have formaldehyde in them also. Women's perfume and men cologne are toxic toxic toxic. Parafin in our shampoos, along with more formaldehyde.

Why? Because if the Industry didn't offload these elements into our personal care products, making a profit off our purchase of them, then they would instead have to pay to Super Fund them. Better to put them into our products and have us buy them.

The good thing about people who smoke - they admit that the second hand smoke is a danger. But those who wear perfume, they insist on it being part of their right to personal expression.

So now we have all these relatively young women who worked in law firms dying from various lung diseases, like the type of fast spreading lung cancer that killed off Chris Reeve's wife. Other serious pulmonary disorders are on the rise, and those who work in offices that require "professional grooming" are facing the cost to their health and their lives.

[BadgerKid]

49. So, it's everywhere!

I knew it, but thanks for causing me to revisit just how pervasive these things are. I remember the line workers for fabric softener drier sheets telling me on the one hand, "you get used to the smell," but on the other hand tell me their nose is less sensitive outside the factory.

I've often wondered just how many of these man-made cleaning products we actually need (above and beyond soap, water, alcohol, bleach, ammonia water, baking soda, vinegar). To my ears, the advertising of manufactured cleaners sounds a bit like the advertising of food, which irks me greatly because, in my opinion, the food manufacturers aren't really looking out for my health, just my money. I keep coming back to the notion: "Grandma really did know a thing or two."

[NashVegas]

46. Most Likely

You'll be able to have your lab-created zygotes' DNA manipulated for the promise of a cancer-free life for your children.

I just wonder if their reproduction systems will come with a terminator gene, so Monsanto can keep the patent on their gift that keeps giving ...

[truedelphi]

54. If anyone can figure out how to patent protect themselves -

Monsanto can!

[NashVegas]

56. I Know We Crack Jokes About It

But it's hard to disbelieve that a DNA registry will be a fact of life within the next 50 years.

[truedelphi]

57. Here's a joke of mine

banned by a mod the other day

Under the header, Obama redoes some famous jingles:

Mmm Mmm Good! Mmm Mmm good
That's what Monsanto's Soups are
Mmm Mmm Good!

I don't think we have fifty years.

I think we are very much in the situation that the Innuit peoples found themselves in. They agreed to capture the fox and wolves and tan the hide and bring it to the trading station rather than store up the caribou and seal meat for the winter. It worked for maybe forty years?

So they substituted a diet that had kept them healthy for a diet of flour and sugar that killed them slowly over the years.

But then, when the Depression hit, the trading posts closed, and when the Inuit showed up expecting the food in return for the furs and hides, they were met by no one and given nothing.

What happens if we have another terrible economic crash, and Monsanto goes bust? their doors shut and then what? And they own the seed, no longer available, and everyone else has destroyed the remnants of the agricultural era? What then?

[NashVegas]

58. We Invade Norway

And get our hands on the seed vault.

You're probably right about < 50 years. But I'm trying to hold out some hope.

[WriteDown]

12. I had a friend who recently passed away that went through various

gene therapies and she was by no means weatlthy. Her BCBS HSA covered it though. The problem is making sure that everyone has access to it.

[Uncle Joe]

6. Kicked and recommended for hacking and cracking the cancer code.

Thanks for the thread, eppur_se_muova.:thumbsup:

[Vidar]

9. K&R.

[Yellow Horse]

10. So what. I have no healthcare and won't in 5 years. if I get cancer I die anyway..

Unless I am in jail in 5 years for failure to pay money I don't have for corporate health insurance and there they might have to give me healthcare.

[kimmerspixelated]

15. Try purifying your diet .

Drink green tea and brazil nuts(selenium). Pretty good for preventing said disaster you outlined.

[Moosepoop]

16. Excellent news!!!

:thumbsup: Thanks for posting this, eppur_se_muova!

[LooseWilly]

17. SMOKE 'EM IF YOU GOT 'EM !!! ;)

Hehe... Take That Nicotine Gum Merchandizers!!

[Peace Patriot]

19. I don't know why you're so gloomy about it. The cure will only cost $500 a pill.

I often think this when there are announcements of new breakthroughs on human illnesses: how many people will never benefit because they can't afford it.

Medicine, which used to be a "corporal work of mercy" (as I was taught in Catholic school) has become a corporate boondoggle by which to make a few people very, very rich, not to mention very, very healthy and long-lived, by NOT healing billions of other people.

In the USA, that is. Most civilized countries--including, now, some "third world" countries like Cuba, Venezuela, Bolivia--have free health care for all. Cuba has a very superior universal health care system. And countries like England, France, Germany, Norway, Sweden, Canada have long considered it common decency to provide FREE health care to anyone who needs it. Our country is so in the vulture grip of the rich and the corporate that we have become indecent, disgraceful and cruel. And we have no excuses.

[BadgerKid]

22. Logically, second-hand smoke is a risk factor.

The debate as to the "right to smoke" will nonetheless continue.

[fascisthunter]

24. well, I wish it could help my father

he has a year to live with a brain tumor unless, his chemo and radiation defeats it.

[FarCenter]

25. Here is the announcement in Nature

http://www.nature.com/news/2009/091216/full/news.2009.1143.html

Cancer genomes reveal risks of sun and smoke

Sequencing of skin and lung cancers show that many mutations could be prevented.

Brendan Borrell

Researchers have completed the genetic sequences of two types of cancer — skin cancer and small-cell lung cancer — revealing that the genomes bear the hallmarks of their respective carcinogens: sun and smoke. Worldwide, the two diseases kill a total of nearly 250,000 people each year, despite the fact that they are largely preventable.

Tumours develop when a normal cell's DNA is damaged, allowing that cell to proliferate unchecked. By sequencing and cataloguing all the mutations in a single tumour type from multiple individuals, scientists aim to identify the genes that are most susceptible to damage, to understand the processes underlying DNA repair, and to develop drugs that counteract certain types of damage.

<SNIP>

Campbell says that the findings help to answer lingering questions about whether carcinogens cause most mutations directly, or if cancer itself contributes to the mutations by disrupting the function of DNA-repair mechanisms. The team found that most mutations were single-base DNA substitutions that could be traced to the carcinogenic effects of chemicals in tobacco smoke (in the case of the small-cell lung cancer genome) or ultraviolet light (in the melanoma genome), supporting the idea that these two cancers are largely preventable. The team estimates that every cigarette smoked results in 15 mutations. "Every pack of cigarettes is like a game of Russian roulette," Campbell says. "Most of those mutations will land where nothing happens in the genome and won't do major damage, but every once in a while they'll hit a cancer gene."

<SNIP>

Some scientists, however, are more circumspect about the benefits of cancer-genome sequencing. Steve Elledge, an expert in DNA damage and cancer genetics at Harvard Medical School in Boston, Massachusetts, was impressed with the new analysis but says that the potential impact on cancer diagnosis and treatment will not be fully felt until scientists have hundreds of sequences at hand — a costly prospect. "It's still very expensive, and I think all these efforts should be coupled with an equal amount of effort on studying gene function," he says.

[SnakeEyes]

27. Answers

One thing I'd love to see science learn and explain are the anomalies of human health... why there are people who are 100 years old and have smoked a pack a day for 3/4s of their life yet don't have the health problems that other 50 year smokers can have.

[Teaser]

30. uh, because humans exist on a normal distribution

and some people are genetic outliers.

[SnakeEyes]

36. Really???

Gee that explains everything!

[Teaser]

37. yeah, actually, it pretty much does

from thermodynamics to evolutionary biology, probability distributions do explain everything.

[AngryAmish]

39. Nassim Taleb would like to punch you in the stomach

[Teaser]

44. I can take him

He's old and weak, I'm young and fast.

Don't be bringing that weak black swan shit into my house, Taleb.

[SnakeEyes]

48. You've missed it completely.

You're answering the wrong question. Probability distributions tell us the deviations that can exist and what the range can be. They don't explain the direct link and factors as to why/how they occur. I want the science/biological answer as to why the same factors cause for some and not others. It's only random variables now because we haven't learned enough.

[Teaser]

51. good luck with that.

noise is noise. sometimes the cause is tractable. Most times, it isn't.

[SnakeEyes]

53. It isn't NOW.

Again, you're looking at it from a math/statistical perspective. Noise exists there because we don't know or cannot find out all variables and pinpoint all their exact effects. Somethings we may never fully know like behavior related outcomes. However, with serious science/biology/chemistry/physics the ability to drill down to the lowest levels and discover these things are possible. The question is only a matter of when. It may not be our lifetimes... but someday.

[riverbendviewgal]

31. Cancer detection for Canadian women who are Jewish

So glad we have such and efficient and caring health care.
I feel sorry for the Americans.

Cancer test urged for Jewish women
December 15, 2009

excerpt.
But results from a new study suggest those guidelines should be revised so that every Jewish woman in Ontario has access to genetic screening for breast and ovarian cancers.

"If we can get this test into clinical practice for all Jewish women we are going to save lives," said Kelly Metcalfe, the study's lead author and adjunct scientist at the Women's College Research Institute.

Once Lapidus recovered from the shock of finding she carried the mutation, the 54-year-old Torontonian of Jewish ancestry had her uterus and ovaries removed in September. She is now grateful the genetic test allowed her to stop cancer before it could attack.


http://www.healthzone.ca/health/yourhealth/women'shealth/article/738787--cancer-test-urged-for-jewish-women

[mcablue]

34. Prediction: There won't be a cure in our lifetime

Don't get too excited.

[MARALE]

41. I Love how the medical field can work together

across countries to better life for all mankind. I wish we all could do that. Instead of hating and being afraid of other countries, if we can all work together we could solve so many problems of the world like hunger and genocide.

[No Elephants]

43. Hoping to heaven that this discovery will save some folks, the sooner, the better.

[live love laugh]

45. "...the US is looking at cancers of the brain, ovary and pancreas." I don't hold out much hope for

cures for these cancer types with researchers operating on Big Pharma's turf.

[tonekat]

47. Well, now I expect to read....

"GOP insists that research be halted immediately because it interferes with god's holy plan to snuff us!"

[denem]

52. Scientists surprised to find DNA match with Joe Lieberman.

[truedelphi]

59. My joke of the week!

Thank you for coming up with that!

[Hekate]

55. This is incredible news

I'm sorry so many feel the need to piss on it.

Hekate

[goforit]

60. Pharmaceuticals and the American Cancer Association will block it!! Watch it!!

[m3e92man8850]

61. can't come soon enough