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Breast cancer breakthrough in BC will help develop new breast cancer therapies
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For the first time in history, scientists at the BC Cancer Agency have decoded all of the three billion letters in the DNA sequence of a type of breast cancer which accounts for about 10% of all breast cancers. They have also found all of the mutations or spelling mistakes that caused the cancer to spread.
The discovery helps unlock the secrets of how cancer begins and spreads, thus pointing the way to the development of new breast cancer treatment targets and therapies. The landmark study was published as the cover story in the prestigious international science journal Nature in October.
Dr. Samuel Aparicio, head of the breast cancer research program and research team leader at the BC Cancer Agency said, I never thought I would see this in my lifetime. This is a watershed event in our ability to understand the causes of breast cancer and to develop personalized medicines for our patients. The number of doors that can now be opened to future research is considerable.
Partnering with the BC Cancer Agency's Genome Sciences Centre, Dr. Aparicio's team used the latest in next-generation DNA sequencing technology to study the evolution of a single patient's lobular breast cancer tumour over a nine-year interval. They found 32 mutations in the metastatic cancer tumour and then looked to see how many of those same spelling mistakes were present in the original tumour. The result was surprising - only five of the 32 could have been present in all of the cells of the primary tumour, thus fingering them as the criminals that caused the disease to get started in the first place. These five mutations were previously unknown to researchers as playing a role in cancer.
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Dr. Marco Marra, Director of BC Cancer Agency's Genome Sciences Centre said, This study demonstrates the remarkable capacity of next-generation DNA sequencing technology. The project that decoded the first human genome in 2001 took years and an enormous amount of funding. We were able sequence the breast cancer genome in weeks and at a fraction of the cost.
One in nine women is expected to develop breast cancer, and breast cancer accounts for 29% of all cancer diagnoses for B.C. women.
The Canadian Breast Cancer Foundation, BC/Yukon Region supported a key member of Dr. Aparicio's research team through a bioinformatics fellowship. Other funders and supporters include the Canadian Institutes for Health Research, Genome Canada and Genome BC, the Canadian Foundation for Innovation, and the Michael Smith Foundation for Health Research.
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