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(I don't know much about cancer research but I would suppose that this is big news if it's true. I also don't know much about the source so if somebody knows more about this, please speak up, otherwise we'll have a bunch of wild conjectures)
**broken link removed**
The genetic code of two of the most deadly cancers has been cracked by British scientists in a world first that opens up a whole new era in the treatment for the disease.
All the mutations that turn healthy cells cancerous in both lung and skin tumours have been identified in what researchers described as a "transforming moment" in the search for preventions, treatments and cures for both terminal illnesses.
Such a detailed picture of the fundamental causes of the disease will lead to earlier detection, new breeds of drugs and better understanding of what causes the disease, they claim.
Eventually a simple blood test will lead to accurate "made to measure" treatments that can identify, attack and kill the causes of each patient's own individual cancer, they claim.
Professor Mike Stratton, of the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute, a world leading research centre in Cambridge who carried the studies, said: "What you are seeing today is going to transform the way that we see cancer.
"This is a really fundamental moment in the history of cancer research."
All cancers are caused by damage or mutations to the DNA of formerly healthy cells acquired during a person's lifetime.
This damage causes them to grow into abnormal lumps or tumours and spread around the body disrupting its normal processes and eventually - if unchecked - causing death.
In lung cancer the damage is almost entirely caused by smoking and in skin cancer or malignant melanoma by ultra violent sunlight.
The Sanger Institute studies used powerful new DNA sequencing technologies to decode completely the genome of both tumour tissue and normal tissue from a lung cancer and a malignant melanoma patient.
They then compared and contrasted the two to discover the differences and see what damage has occurred to cause the disease.
The lung cancer genome, which kills 34,500 people a year, contained more than 23,000 mutations, the melanoma, which kills 2,000 people a year, more than 33,000.
Most of these mutations are known as "passengers" and cause damage but not cancer. However a small number are called "drivers" and these lead to the disease.
By sequencing many more cancer patients over the next few years, the researchers hope to distil down the mix until they have a handful of targets to hit with treatments such as chemotherapy and radiotherapy.
While the whole process for the studies took more than a year and cost around £80,000, the technology is moving so fast that it will soon take just weeks and cost less than £8,000 - well within the current cost and time frame for cancer treatments.
It is eventually believed that a simple blood test will mean every patient will be given their own cancer chart so their treatment can be tailor made.
"The first time that people began to think there was something about genetic material that contributed to cancer was about 100 years ago and they looked down the microscope at the nucleus (centre of cells) and saw it was abnormal," said Professor Stratton.
"100 years later, today, we are seeing every single mutation in a cancer. We have never seen cancer revealed in this form before and these catalogues of mutations are telling us about how the cancer has developed so they will inform us on prevention.
"And they include all the drivers which tell us about all the processes that are disrupted in the cancer cell and which we can try and influence through our treatments."
Already the lung cancer genome is yielding useful information. As the average victim has smoked 18,000 packets of cigarettes, the researchers have concluded that a mutation is caused roughly every 15 cigarettes.
Professor Peter Campbell, who led the lung cancer team, said: "These mutations are a bit like Russian roulette. Most of the time you will hit an empty chamber and cause a passenger mutation.
"But every now and again you will hit a bullet and cause a tumour."
The research, published in the journal Nature, was hailed as groundbreaking by fellow researchers.
Professor Carlos Caldas, a cancer expert from Cancer Research UK's Cambridge Research Institute, said: "This is groundbreaking research.
"Like molecular archaeologists, these researchers have dug through layers of genetic information to uncover the history of these patients' disease.
"By repeating and refining this technique with other forms of cancer, and comparing the results to data from the Human Genome Project, the hope and excitement for the future is that we'll eventually have a detailed picture of how different cancers develop, and ultimately how better to treat and prevent them."
Dr Elizabeth Rapley, of The Institute of Cancer Research, added: "These are exciting studies that show us a great deal about how cancer is triggered and driven by mutations in DNA.
"This is the first time that a complete cancer genome has been sequenced and similar insights into other cancer genomes are likely to follow.
"As more cancer genomes are revealed by this technique, we will gain a greater understanding of how cancer is caused and develops, improving our ability to prevent, treat and cure cancer."
Harpal Kumar, Cancer Research UK's chief executive, added:"This fascinating work shows that great progress is being made to understand a lot more about how cancer develops.
"Cancer Research UK is extremely encouraged by this fast-emerging area of research. Never before has the potential of genomics to bring benefits to patients been so apparent, and we are already planning major new investments to add further depth to this cutting-edge work."
**broken link removed**
The genetic code of two of the most deadly cancers has been cracked by British scientists in a world first that opens up a whole new era in the treatment for the disease.
All the mutations that turn healthy cells cancerous in both lung and skin tumours have been identified in what researchers described as a "transforming moment" in the search for preventions, treatments and cures for both terminal illnesses.
Such a detailed picture of the fundamental causes of the disease will lead to earlier detection, new breeds of drugs and better understanding of what causes the disease, they claim.
Eventually a simple blood test will lead to accurate "made to measure" treatments that can identify, attack and kill the causes of each patient's own individual cancer, they claim.
Professor Mike Stratton, of the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute, a world leading research centre in Cambridge who carried the studies, said: "What you are seeing today is going to transform the way that we see cancer.
"This is a really fundamental moment in the history of cancer research."
All cancers are caused by damage or mutations to the DNA of formerly healthy cells acquired during a person's lifetime.
This damage causes them to grow into abnormal lumps or tumours and spread around the body disrupting its normal processes and eventually - if unchecked - causing death.
In lung cancer the damage is almost entirely caused by smoking and in skin cancer or malignant melanoma by ultra violent sunlight.
The Sanger Institute studies used powerful new DNA sequencing technologies to decode completely the genome of both tumour tissue and normal tissue from a lung cancer and a malignant melanoma patient.
They then compared and contrasted the two to discover the differences and see what damage has occurred to cause the disease.
The lung cancer genome, which kills 34,500 people a year, contained more than 23,000 mutations, the melanoma, which kills 2,000 people a year, more than 33,000.
Most of these mutations are known as "passengers" and cause damage but not cancer. However a small number are called "drivers" and these lead to the disease.
By sequencing many more cancer patients over the next few years, the researchers hope to distil down the mix until they have a handful of targets to hit with treatments such as chemotherapy and radiotherapy.
While the whole process for the studies took more than a year and cost around £80,000, the technology is moving so fast that it will soon take just weeks and cost less than £8,000 - well within the current cost and time frame for cancer treatments.
It is eventually believed that a simple blood test will mean every patient will be given their own cancer chart so their treatment can be tailor made.
"The first time that people began to think there was something about genetic material that contributed to cancer was about 100 years ago and they looked down the microscope at the nucleus (centre of cells) and saw it was abnormal," said Professor Stratton.
"100 years later, today, we are seeing every single mutation in a cancer. We have never seen cancer revealed in this form before and these catalogues of mutations are telling us about how the cancer has developed so they will inform us on prevention.
"And they include all the drivers which tell us about all the processes that are disrupted in the cancer cell and which we can try and influence through our treatments."
Already the lung cancer genome is yielding useful information. As the average victim has smoked 18,000 packets of cigarettes, the researchers have concluded that a mutation is caused roughly every 15 cigarettes.
Professor Peter Campbell, who led the lung cancer team, said: "These mutations are a bit like Russian roulette. Most of the time you will hit an empty chamber and cause a passenger mutation.
"But every now and again you will hit a bullet and cause a tumour."
The research, published in the journal Nature, was hailed as groundbreaking by fellow researchers.
Professor Carlos Caldas, a cancer expert from Cancer Research UK's Cambridge Research Institute, said: "This is groundbreaking research.
"Like molecular archaeologists, these researchers have dug through layers of genetic information to uncover the history of these patients' disease.
"By repeating and refining this technique with other forms of cancer, and comparing the results to data from the Human Genome Project, the hope and excitement for the future is that we'll eventually have a detailed picture of how different cancers develop, and ultimately how better to treat and prevent them."
Dr Elizabeth Rapley, of The Institute of Cancer Research, added: "These are exciting studies that show us a great deal about how cancer is triggered and driven by mutations in DNA.
"This is the first time that a complete cancer genome has been sequenced and similar insights into other cancer genomes are likely to follow.
"As more cancer genomes are revealed by this technique, we will gain a greater understanding of how cancer is caused and develops, improving our ability to prevent, treat and cure cancer."
Harpal Kumar, Cancer Research UK's chief executive, added:"This fascinating work shows that great progress is being made to understand a lot more about how cancer develops.
"Cancer Research UK is extremely encouraged by this fast-emerging area of research. Never before has the potential of genomics to bring benefits to patients been so apparent, and we are already planning major new investments to add further depth to this cutting-edge work."
