To accelerate progress in the fight against cancer and other diseases, thePediatric Cancer Genome ProjectUniversity of Washington, promoted by St. Jude Children’s Hospital, has announced the launch of thelargest collection of human cancer genome data ever, freely accessible to the global scientific community. The amount of information released doubles the volume of data currently available for the entire human genome as a whole, according to the journalNature Genetics.
The 520 genome sequences released are from normal and tumor tissue samples from 260 pediatric cancer patients. The St. Jude researchers analyzed the genomic sequences to determine thedifferences between normal and cancer cells in each childand shedding light on the causes of more than half a dozen of the deadliest childhood cancers.
“This study has generated more discoveries than we thought possible,” says James Downing, the scientist leading the project at St. Jude. “We want to make this information available to the wider scientific community, so that collectively we can explore new treatment options for these children; by sharing the information, we hope that other researchers will be able to use this rich resource to investigate many other types of diseases. “Downing points out.
ThePediatric Cancer Genome Project, which began in 2010, is the largest effort to date to understand the genetic origins of tumors. Among other findings, researchers studying lethal leukemia in early childhood, known aschildhood acute lymphoblastic leukemia, discovered unexpected genetic alterations that could change the diagnosis and treatment in patients with this disease. Regarding efforts to understand the genetic changes underlying a brain tumor, called diffuse intrinsic glioma, the researchers found that an alarming 78 percent of tumors produced changes in two genes, which had not been previously linked to cancer.
