Cancer gene research stepped up
Tuesday November 22nd, 2011
Thousands of patients are to be asked to take part in a major UK research project on the use of genetic testing to improve cancer treatment, it was announced yesterday.
Genetic
testing laboratories in London, Birmingham and Cardiff will analyse samples
from up to 9,000 patients in the first phase of the Cancer Research UK
project.
This will cover cancers of the breast, bowel, lung, prostate, ovaries together with melanoma.
Researchers will aim to compare the success of treatments with genetic analysis of cancer cells to develop what is known as stratified medicine - enabling treatments to be tailored closely to individual disease.
Patients will be drawn from six experimental cancer medicine centres in London, Leeds, Edinburgh, Cambridge, Cardiff, Glasgow and Manchester.
Programme director James Peach said: "This programme marks the beginning of the journey, and there is much to be done before we can bring the benefits of personalised medicine to every cancer patient.
"But I’m confident that within the next few years we’ll see personalised medicine changing the face of cancer treatment and saving many more lives from cancer.”
He added: “In the ten years since the Human Genome Project was completed we’ve made huge progress in unravelling the genetic basis of cancer and understanding what drives it at a molecular level.
"We know that prescribing certain drugs according to the genetic basis of the tumour can improve the chances of successful treatment. And by hardwiring research into the day-to-day care of cancer patients, we can harness the power of the NHS to bring personalised medicine a step closer to reality."
* Cancer Research UK has launched a second major genetic research project.
Its Genomics Initiative will support researchers seeking to develop full genetic maps of individual cancers.
One researcher, Professor Richard Marais, of The Institute of Cancer Research, is searching for genes which make some kinds of skin cancer aggressive.
Charity chief executive Harpal Kumar said: "We know that mistakes in genes are behind cancer, and they also drive how cancer act and respond to treatment.
"Understanding this better will bring real benefits for patients in the future, playing an essential role in the push towards personalised cancer treatment."
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