Breast Cancer Revolution

As some people might say, treating cancer is a lot like shooting in the dark.  Sometimes it works.  Sometimes it doesn't.  And there's no way to predict the outcome.  This is because scientists only have a few crude ideas about how to disable cancer cells.  For the most part, the inner workings of cancer are a mystery.

But, maybe not for long.  A team of scientists from Washington University School of Medicine has just recently sequenced the entire DNA code of one type of breast-cancer tumor.  They conducted the project using sample from 50 women enrolled in some of their other studies.  Research says that all of the women had breast tumors that contained estrogen receptors, but only about half of the patients responded to drugs that supposedly targeted the receptors.  The scientists then sequenced the whole genomes of the breast cancers of all 50 women, hoping that it would give them a reason that only about half of the women responded to the drugs.

All in all, they found that the patients' tumors contained more than 1,700 genetic mutations, most of which were unique to each woman.  The few genetic mutations shared by some women were all too familiar to the scientists and had been previously associated with cancer in other studies.  However, many mutations were new.  The team concluded that the new genetic mutations could be what caused some women to react to the drug and others not to react.  Although the genetic mutations suggest that cancer varies from person to person, a great number of the mutations were linked to the common changes seen in most tumor development.  These mutations, according to Time magazine, could eventually be used to develope "broadly useful new drugs."  In fact, there are already drugs that target six of the mutations found, and the team of scientists is eager to test them against breast cancer.

Also, a similar genetic report from dozens of tumors exists for one other cancer, and along with the new sets of reports from this team of scientists, the genomes may prove to allow doctors to finally be able to match each patient to the best possible treatment.

That was a lot of information.  I know.  Basically, a team of scientists discovered the entire DNA strand for a certain kind of tumor known to be present with breast cancer!  That's awesome!  According to the article, this revolutionary finding could lead to doctors being able to personalize cancer treatments for each person.  I imagine it will soon expand to personalizing the treatment to each person according to their DNA code.  This is exciting stuff, and I can't wait to read more articles about it, when or if they become available.  Cheers!