3 ms·

First comprehensive analysis of two cancer genomes

34 points by epi0Bauqu 17y ago

anigbrowl 17y ago
Pooh BBC, linkbaity headline and no link to the study? Well, they're really bad about external links anyway...guess they don't want people leaving their website for any reason grumble Interesting news though, thanks. More informative press release: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2009-12/wtsi-lca121509.php http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2009-12/wtsi-lca12150... Project page with lots of resources: http://www.sanger.ac.uk/research/projects/cancergenome.html http://www.sanger.ac.uk/research/projects/cancergenome.html
electromagnetic 17y ago
Would the idea now be to compare multiple cases of lung cancer to identify the genetic error that causes the tumour formation and develop a way to actively target said errors? I mean would it eventually become feasible to put a chemical (or something) into a cigarette to greatly reduce the risk of lung cancer? Similarly could a chemical be devised for addition to sun block, or even after-sun to actively fight the cancer before it develops.
- barry-cotter 17y ago
  Chemical as in simple compound? No. I have no idea what the worst mutagen in cigarette smoke is but there are lots and their effects are going to be random statistically, sometimes they'll change this gene, sometimes the other, though some sections will be especially vulnerable/likely to mutate in a specific way. I could see some bloody complicated RNAinterferase thing working as a targeted anti-mutagen, in theory. But if you can deliver an airborne, persistent heat tolerant RNAi cancer is at worst a chronic disease like diabetes is now.
ars 17y ago
They didn't really crack it. They found a whole bunch of dna errors in cancer, but they don't know which ones matter.
- Estragon 17y ago
  They don't even know which are DNA mutations, and which are systematic sequencing errors.
stilist 17y ago
Correction: two cancers, not all cancer.
- deleted 17y ago
  [deleted]
pg 17y ago
BTW, don't downvote the preceding comments complaining about this post. They're responding to the article that was here before I replaced it with the one anigbrowl suggested.
- astine 17y ago
  Would it have been better to simply submit a new article?
ericb 17y ago
Could you diff a healthy genome and several cancerous genomes and come up with the offending commit? Can someone give me more background on the ins and outs?
- silentbicycle 17y ago
  Well, in the article it says there are 30,000+ mutations, so narrowing it down to the specific ones caused the cascade of other mutations is far from trivial. A VC system with a corrupted database silently wrecking everything that touches it might not be a bad metaphor, though. (I've had it happen with Perforce. Not fun.)
carbocation 17y ago
Nature journal articles in question (you'll almost certainly need a university account to see these): Melanoma: http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/vaop/ncurrent/full/nature08658.html http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/vaop/ncurrent/full/natu... Small-cell lung cancer: http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/vaop/ncurrent/full/nature08629.html http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/vaop/ncurrent/full/natu... Erin Pleasance is the first author on two Nature articles in the same issue. That is insane!

34 points by epi0Bauqu 17y ago

Pooh BBC, linkbaity headline and no link to the study? Well, they're really bad about external links anyway...guess they don't want people leaving their website for any reason grumble Interesting news though, thanks. More informative press release: http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2009-12/wtsi-lca121509.php http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2009-12/wtsi-lca12150... Project page with lots of resources: http://www.sanger.ac.uk/research/projects/cancergenome.html http://www.sanger.ac.uk/research/projects/cancergenome.html

electromagnetic 17y ago

Would the idea now be to compare multiple cases of lung cancer to identify the genetic error that causes the tumour formation and develop a way to actively target said errors? I mean would it eventually become feasible to put a chemical (or something) into a cigarette to greatly reduce the risk of lung cancer? Similarly could a chemical be devised for addition to sun block, or even after-sun to actively fight the cancer before it develops.

barry-cotter 17y ago
Chemical as in simple compound? No. I have no idea what the worst mutagen in cigarette smoke is but there are lots and their effects are going to be random statistically, sometimes they'll change this gene, sometimes the other, though some sections will be especially vulnerable/likely to mutate in a specific way. I could see some bloody complicated RNAinterferase thing working as a targeted anti-mutagen, in theory. But if you can deliver an airborne, persistent heat tolerant RNAi cancer is at worst a chronic disease like diabetes is now.

ars 17y ago

They didn't really crack it. They found a whole bunch of dna errors in cancer, but they don't know which ones matter.

Estragon 17y ago
They don't even know which are DNA mutations, and which are systematic sequencing errors.

stilist 17y ago

Correction: two cancers, not all cancer.

deleted 17y ago
[deleted]

pg 17y ago

BTW, don't downvote the preceding comments complaining about this post. They're responding to the article that was here before I replaced it with the one anigbrowl suggested.

astine 17y ago
Would it have been better to simply submit a new article?

ericb 17y ago

Could you diff a healthy genome and several cancerous genomes and come up with the offending commit? Can someone give me more background on the ins and outs?

silentbicycle 17y ago
Well, in the article it says there are 30,000+ mutations, so narrowing it down to the specific ones caused the cascade of other mutations is far from trivial. A VC system with a corrupted database silently wrecking everything that touches it might not be a bad metaphor, though. (I've had it happen with Perforce. Not fun.)

carbocation 17y ago

Nature journal articles in question (you'll almost certainly need a university account to see these): Melanoma: http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/vaop/ncurrent/full/nature08658.html http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/vaop/ncurrent/full/natu... Small-cell lung cancer: http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/vaop/ncurrent/full/nature08629.html http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/vaop/ncurrent/full/natu... Erin Pleasance is the first author on two Nature articles in the same issue. That is insane!