WASHINGTON — Scientists have mapped the cascade of genetic changes that turn normal cells in the brain and pancreas into two of the most lethal cancers. The result points to a new approach for fighting tumors and maybe even catching them sooner.
Genes blamed for one person’s brain tumor were different from the culprits for the next patient, making the puzzle of cancer genetics even more complicated.
But the research published today also found that clusters of seemingly disparate genes all work along the same pathways. So instead of today’s hunt for drugs that target a single gene, the idea is to target entire pathways that most patients share.
The three studies, published in the journals Science and Nature, mark a milestone in cancer genetics.
“This is the next wave,” said Dr. Phillip Febbo of Duke University’s Institute for Genome Sciences and Policy, who was not involved with the new research. “What’s really important is that finding those common elements within the landscape suggests there are therapeutic interventions that can help the whole group.”
Despite 30 years of laborious work, scientists had found only a fraction of the genetic alterations required to cause any of the 200 diseases that collectively are called cancer.
Finding drugs that block the pathways those genes take will not be easy, said Dr. Bert Vogelstein of Johns Hopkins University and the Howard Hughes Medical Institute, who oversaw the research. They also may cause more side effects than current “targeted therapies” that work against only a specific gene defect.
But companies already are researching drugs to block a particular enzyme pathway implicated in the studies.
“Even though it sounds complex, it’s actually allowing us to simplify the complex into pathways that will allow us, I think, to truly understand cancer for the first time and take a much more rational approach to treatment,” said Dr. Anna Barker of the National Cancer Institute, who co-directs the cancer atlas project. “I’m more optimistic.”
Moreover, the work suggests possible ways to catch cancer earlier, by tracing mutant DNA floating through the bloodstream, Vogelstein added.
