A major international genetic study has identified many of the early mutations that lead to cancer years later, it was announced last night.
Half of the early mutations fell within the same nine genes – while more than 20% of mutations occur early in the development of a tumour, according to the reports in Nature.
The findings emerged from the Pan-Cancer Analysis of the Whole Genomes Project and involved study of 47 million genetic changes in more than 2,500 human tumours and 38 types of cancer. Some 1,300 scientists in 37 countries took part in the research.
Participants included the Wellcome Sanger Institute in Cambridge, Oxford University and the Francis Crick Institute.
The researchers say they are close to cataloguing all the biological pathways involved in cancer.
The researchers say that in many cancers, including ovarian cancer, one of the most common early changes affects the gene TP53.
Peter Van Loo, from the Francis Crick Institute, said: "We’ve developed the first timelines of genetic mutations across the spectrum of cancer types. For more than 30 cancers, we now know what specific genetic changes are likely to happen, and when these are likely to take place.
"Unlocking these patterns means it should now be possible to develop new diagnostic tests, that pick up signs of cancer much earlier."
Dr Peter Campbell, from the Sanger Institute, added: “This work is helping to answer a long-standing medical difficulty, why two patients with what appear to be the same cancer can have very different outcomes to the same drug treatment. We show that the reasons for these different behaviours are written in the DNA."
The ICGC/TCGA Pan-Cancer Analysis of Whole Genomes Consortium. Pan-cancer analysis of whole genomes. Nature 5 February 2020; doi: 10.1038/s41586-020-1969-6
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