Breakthrough in Breast Cancer Research will Revolutionize Diagnosis and Treatment
Scientists at the British Columbia Cancer Agency in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, are the first in the world to decode a breast cancer DNA strand and to discover how and why breast cancer spreads and/or mutates to other areas in the body.
In a press release dated October 7, 2009, the British Columbia Cancer Agency stated that their scientists had successfully decoded all three billion letters in the DNA sequence of a metastatic lobular breast cancer that is responsible for 10% of all breast cancer diagnoses. The DNA mapping was conducted of a single breast cancer tumor of a patient as it metastasized.
They were able to use the latest DNA sequencing technology to compare the DNA strands from the "final cancer" with the DNA taken from the cancer when it was first diagnosed. What they discovered was certain mutations in various cells as the disease spread. To survive, cancer cells need certain proteins. When a cancer "realizes" its survival is threatened by treatment it will generate proteins that will instruct the cells to spread. Through state-of-the-art DNA sequencing technology they have identified what tells the cells what proteins to make and what proteins are necessary for the cell to survive and change.
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Hi Darlene - Thanks for sharing this important information on breakthroughs in cancer diagnosis and treatment. It's exactly the type of news we all want to hear during National Breast Cancer Awareness Month, so we appreciate your making us aware of these advances. Take good care, Pat
You're welcome, Pat. I thought it was such great news. Hopefully, this sort of technology can help other cancers, as well.