Abstract
The mission of the National Institute of Oncogenomics is to fight cancer by applying the most innovative concepts and technologies. The proposed project is intended to make us the best integrated oncological research, treatment and teaching center in Latin America. The present project intends to have a more comprehensive approach to study the most frequent cancers in our population, namely prostate, breast, and colorectal. For that, we will: (1) investigate the germinative changes in DNA (copy number of DNA sequences) underlying familial cancer, as a less noisy and complex model than tumors; (2) extend these findings by large-scale sequencing in family and sporadic tumors; (3) examine intronic and exonic alterations of expression in such malignancies; (4) test new approaches for improved image detection of tumors; (5) identify response markers to neoadjuvant chemotherapy; (6) evaluate the potential of the protein F8 as a healing agent. The efficiency and need of more comprehensive approaches than previous large cancer-genomics studies, simultaneously analyzing genetic sequences, copy-number variations, expression arrays and other forms of data was emphasized in the latest editorial from Nature (Nature 455, 138, from September 11, 2008). The editorial refers to the new statistical power in three studies released in the week before. Taken together, the results show that no single mutated gene Iies at the heart of any of the investigated tumors, but analyses based on the Genome Atlas revealed a quite limited number of pathways involved (12 in pancreatic cancer and just 3 in glioblastomas). So drugs targeting these pathways might work in more patients than drugs that target only one of a pathway's components. The editorial also points out those funding agencies will need to do many more such studies on many more types of cancer. Untangling the immense complexity of cancer will be big science by anyone's definition, requiring a long-term commitment and enormous amounts of data. (AU)
| Articles published in Agência FAPESP Newsletter about the research grant: |
| More itemsLess items |
| TITULO |
| Articles published in other media outlets ( ): |
| More itemsLess items |
| VEICULO: TITULO (DATA) |
| VEICULO: TITULO (DATA) |