Cancer is now understood to include more than 200 different diseases. In all forms of cancer, genomic changes cause disruptions within cellular pathways that result in uncontrolled cell growth. One in three people in the Western world develops cancer. One in five will die of the disease. Cancer is, therefore, the most common genetic disease. The Cancer Genome Project seeks to explore the entire spectrum of genomic change in cancer through the application of genome analysis technologies, including large-scale genome sequencing. The Cancer Genome Atlas Pilot Project (TCGA), was initiated in 2006 to identify important genetic changes involved in lung, brain, and ovarian cancers. TCGA is a comprehensive effort to accelerate our understanding of the molecular basis of cancer through the application of genome analysis technologies, especially large-scale genome sequencing. The project will delve more deeply into the genetic changes leading to origins of this complex set of diseases and, in doing so, will enable new discoveries and tools that will provide the basis for a new generation of cancer therapies, diagnostics, and preventive strategies.
The overall effort began in 2006 with a technical demonstration project, known as the Tumor Sequencing Project.
The HGSC
The HGSC, founded in 1996, is a world leader in genomics. The fundamental interests of the HGSC are in advancing biology and genetics by improved genome technologies. One of three large-scale sequencing centers funded by the National Institutes of Health, the HGSC's location at the heart of the Texas Medical Center provides a unique opportunity to apply the cutting edge of genome technologies in science and medicine.
IN THE SPOTLIGHT
Using whole genome sequencing on a patient with Charcot-Marie-Tooth neuropathy, we were able to discover the cause of this patient’s disease (two disruptions in the SH3TC2 gene). These causative alleles were verified across the patient’s family, confirming their presence in the effected siblings and absence in other family members. This provides a proof-of-principle for the application of whole genome sequencing to the treatment of genetic disease.
Learn more about this project in BCM News.
