Researchers worldwide are banding together in a collaborative effort to combat one of the world’s leading killers—cancer. The massive project, which has been dubbed the International Cancer Genome Consortium (ICGC), will study 50 different types of cancer, mapping their genetic coding errors. Their goal is to release the data collected, along with any new discoveries “rapidly and freely” to cancer researchers around the globe. Scientists worldwide are being encouraged to take part in what has been referred to as an “ambitious international endeavor.”
So far, 10 countries have committed to the project; Britain, Canada, China, France, India, Japan, Singapore,
and the United States. Canada will play a lead role, with the consortium’s secretariat located at the Ontario Institute for Cancer Research in Toronto, which will also operate the data coordination center. The Government of Ontario provided $40 million to the 10-year project, which has so far purchased 10 ultra-fast DNA-sequencing machines and coaxed top guns from the U.S. to take on the task. Among the recruits are Lincoln Stein, a pathologist turned world leader in genome informatics from Cold Spring Harbor, New York, who will lead the consortium’s data coordination center. Also joining the cause is John McPherson, a scientist from Baylor College of Medicine in Houston who will be returning to Canada after 20 years in the United States. “It’s clear the ability to solve global problems is through collaboration,” said John Wilkinson, Ontario’s Minister of Research and Innovation. “Researchers from around the world have decided to join together to crack the genomics of the 50 most common cancers that plague mankind.”
The other member countries are each expected to pay $20 million toward the project. This money will fund the study of at least one subtype of the disease, collecting and sequencing samples from 500 patients. With 50 cancers to be studied, not all have been assigned to a country yet, but other countries are expected to jump on board in the coming months. Some countries have already decided on a subtype. For instance, China intends to study liver cancer, since the country has a high rate of that disease. Japan plans to take on gastric cancer, India is interested in oral cancers, France will focus on sarcomas—cancers of the bone and connective tissue. Breast cancer has the attention of several countries including Britain and the United States, where there is also an interest in brain and colon cancers. Canada has chosen the pancreas. “We picked a hard one,” said Tom Hudson, scientific director of the Ontario Institute for Cancer Research in Toronto. “In 2008, there will be 3,800 new cases and 3,700 deaths in Canada. It’s almost always found too late.” Dr. Hudson is hopeful that the federally funded Genome Canada will contribute more money to the project, allowing Canadian researchers to study other cancers, in particular those of the brain and ovaries. All consortium participants will agree not to file any patent applications or make other intellectual property claims on primary data from ICGC projects.
By using their high-speed technology, the consortium is expected to amass 25,000 times more data than the International Human Genome Project, which produced the first draft sequence of human DNA in 2001. Their goal is to personalize cancer therapy, finding the most effective therapy according to the patient’s specific genetic makeup. They will also target the development of new cancer therapies that treat the genetic causes of cancer.
In the past, cancer was thought of as a single disease, but it’s now recognized as a large number of different conditions. However, in almost all forms of cancer, the disease changes the genetic code of cells and disrupts the normal biological pathways. This results in cells multiplying out of control, turning into deadly tumors. Mapping and studying the genomic changes found with each type of cancer could help scientists understand the complex biological mechanisms that cause cancers to grow and spread, leading to new therapies, better diagnostics, and prevention methods.
Dr. Hudson said it is also crucial to duplicate efforts by studying the same cancer types in different countries because “tumors of the colon look different in Singapore than they do in Toronto.” Researchers suspect environmental, dietary, and genetic factors can impact the way cancers develop in different regions of the world.
Worldwide, more than 7.5 million people died of cancer in 2007, and more than 12 million new cancers were diagnosed. Those numbers are expected to escalate to 17.5 million deaths and 27 million new cases in 2050 unless more is done to understand and control this devastating disease.
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