Health

UK Sanger Institute: Breakthrough In Skin & Lung Cancer Research

by amyellensoden | December 16, 2009 at 01:16 pm

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British scientists at the Sanger Institute in the UK have made a startling breakthrough in cancer research, having identified tumors that cause healthy cells to turn cancerous in both skin and lung cancer patients. This breakthrough is significant in that it is a huge progression towards earlier prevention methods and more direct treatments.

Patients could soon be receiving tailor made prescriptions that are solely for their own cancer treatment process. Researchers now believe that a blood test could soon be used to identify what kind of cancer treatment an individual patient needs to receive.

Scientists at the Sanger Institute in Cambridge, UK have been working on research that involves technology capable of decoding DNA sequencing in order to identify genomes of normal versus tumor tissue. This research was carried out pertaining to individuals with malignant melanomas and lung cancer

"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."

The breakthrough came by comparing and contrasting the normal and tumor tissues in order to identify where the tumor may have begun in the first place.

By comparing the DNA sequences of various patients, not only can the cause of tumors be identified, but treatments can be fine-tuned to act in a preventative way. This research has also provided scientists with valuable information on how lung and skin cancers develop and often spread.

Scientists and researchers hope that with the help of more individuals over the next few years, they can continue to narrow down treatment methods for lung and skin cancer patients.