Online tool allows cancer
patients to know their
odds of dying
Website draws from official data to show survival
rates
A
Global study unravels
cancer genomes
Thousands of scientists publish 23 papers to trace
comprehensive genetic map
A
n international team of researchers has completed the most
comprehensive study of whole cancer genomes to date, significantly
improving our fundamental understanding of cancer and suggesting
new directions for its diagnosis and treatment.
Involving more than 1,300 scientists and clinicians from 37 countries,
the project analysed more than 2,600 genomes of 38 different tumour
types, creating a huge database of primary cancer genomes.
While previous studies only focused on the one percent of the
genome that codes for proteins, the new study explored in considerably
greater detail the remaining 99 percent of the genome, including regions
that control switching genes on and off.
In 23 papers published in the journal Nature, the researchers
reported that scientists can now characterise every genetic change
found in a cancer, all the processes that have generated those
mutations, and even the order of key events during a cancer’s life
history.
They’re also closer to cataloguing all of the biological pathways
involved in cancer and having a fuller picture of their actions in the
genome.
At least one causal mutation was found in virtually all of the cancers
analysed, and the processes that generate mutations were found to be
hugely diverse, from changes in single DNA letters to the reorganisation
of whole chromosomes.
More than a dozen regions of the genome controlling how genes
switch on and off were identified as targets of cancer-causing
mutations.
The researchers have also put forward a new method that can
identify mutations which occurred years, sometimes even decades,
before the tumor appeared. This opens, in theory, a window of
opportunity for early cancer detection, they explained.
GlobalHealthAndTravel.com
new website enables cancer patients to view survival
rates for their diagnosis based on a few simple data
points.
While some doctors are skeptical about patients
turning to the internet for answers, providers behind
the tool say it could help patients have more impactful
discussions with their doctors.
Stephen Buck, co-founder of the drug-pricing
information site GoodRx, is behind the new website,
CancerSurvivalRates.com.
The site has a tool that prompts users to enter
information about their age and gender, as well as
details about their cancer diagnosis, including things like
the stage of their cancer, its grade, how much time has
passed since their diagnosis, and their histology.
The tool then draws on data from the National Cancer
Institute in the United States to calculate how many
people have survived that type of cancer for up to five
years.
“We designed this site to be extremely simple for
people to understand. People aren’t versed in odds and
survival rates,” Buck told the media. “We wanted to say
out of 10 people, how many are alive after one, two or
five years.”
He said the information the tool offers should be used
to foster discussion between patients and providers
about their future.
“We want this to be a conversation starter, for
someone to take this information and ask their physician,
what do you think about my prognosis?” Buck added.
The site has received some criticism from oncologists
who say survival chances are best discussed in a
doctor’s office, where support is available for the patient.
MARCH 2020
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