Gene map of breast and colon cancer
In extensive detective work that combed through some 465 million nucleotides, US researchers were able to complete a draft of the genetic code of breast and colon cancer. With around 200 mutated genes, the number of suspects is larger than previously assumed. A handful of modified genes were expected, according to study leader Victor Velculescu from the Sidney Kimmel Cancer Center at Johns Hopkins University in B altimore about the result of the computer-aided hard work.
Most of them have not been known to have any connection to the development, growth or spread of these types of cancer. Velculescu and his team started their work with 11 breast and colon cancer samples taken from patients after surgery. In search of altered nucleotides, the researchers compared the genetic code of this material with samples from he althy cells. Using data from the Human Genome Project, they first identified the sequences of 13,000 genes.
Then they examined the DNA code of each of these 13,000 genes in each tumor. In the end, 189 genes remained as suspects, which differed from the normal code in crucial ways. They also discovered another peculiarity of these forms of cancer: their uniqueness. Every cancer has its own individual blueprint and this is never the same as that of another patient.
