Large Analysis Identified 600 Gene Mutations in Cancerous Cells
An international team of
researchers has identified hundreds of new genes that are mutated in stomach
cancer, in a finding they say could lead to treatments tailored to the genetic
make-up of individual stomach tumors.
Stomach cancer is the
second leading cause of cancer death worldwide and kills more than 700,000
people a year, according to the World Health Organization. Treatment is often
difficult and unsuccessful. In the United States, less than one-quarter of
stomach cancer patients survive more than five years after diagnosis.
"Until now, the
genetic abnormalities that cause stomach cancers are still largely unknown,
which partially explain the overall poor treatment outcome," said the
study's senior author, Dr. Patrick Tan, an associate professor in the Cancer
and Stem Cell Biology Program at Duke-NUS Graduate Medical School, in a Duke
University Medical Center news release.
Tan, who leads the Genomic
Oncology Program at the Cancer Sciences Institute of Singapore, and colleagues
from the National Cancer Center of Singapore used DNA sequencing technology to
analyze tumor and normal tissue from stomach cancer patients. They identified
more than 600 genes that were previously unknown to be mutated in stomach
cancer.
Further analysis revealed
that two genes -- FAT4 and ARID1A -- were mutated in 5 percent and 8 percent,
respectively, of stomach cancers. In some patients, portions of the chromosome
containing the two genes were missing. This provides further evidence that
genetic defects affecting the two genes occur frequently in stomach cancer.
In lab experiments, the
researchers found that changing the functioning of the two genes altered the
growth of stomach cancer cells.
"More research is
required to realize the clinical implications of these findings. ARID1A and
FAT4 are likely also involved in many other cancer types, not just stomach
cancer," Tan said.
The study appears online
April 8 in Nature Genetics.
More information
The American Academy of Family Physicians has more about stomach cancer
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