Decoding the blueprint for pancreatic cancer

In an exciting advance, the complete genetic blueprint for pancreatic cancer was decoded by a team at the Johns Hopkins University in the US. The team sequenced more than 20,000 genes from 24 people with pancreatic cancer and discovered over 1,500 DNA mutations (faults) in these cancers. An average of 63 mutations was found in each case, supporting the growing body of evidence that cancer is fundamentally a disease caused by alterations in the DNA.

The complex picture presented by these mutations was simplified by the finding that many of them acted together in what are called pathways. The scientists identified 12 core pathways that were each altered in more than two-thirds of the cancers. These findings could have important treatment and diagnostic implications. Dr. Bert Vogelstein, one of the authors of the research, said, “The findings suggest that most solid tumours won’t respond to treatments that target a single gene. Our work suggests that it may be more productive to screen for drugs that act against the core pathways that are disrupted in most cancers.”