By turning off genes one by one, researchers from the United Kingdom and the United States have targeted cancer with new drugs.
The author, Sean Lintern, said in a report in the British newspaper "The Independent", that scientists have made an important step towards developing new drugs that target specific genes within dozens of types of cancer. For the first time, researchers from the United Kingdom and the United States were able to draw a separate map of the genetic makeup of about 25 different types of cancer and matched the results.
The author stated that, using genetic editing technology, researchers identified the genes that cancer cells need to survive by stopping them one by one, which means that these genes can be targeted by a new generation of drugs.
In general, research conducted by teams from the Wellcome Sanger Institute and the Broad Institute included tests of 725 separate lines of cancer cells belonging to people who had about 25 different types of cancer.
The author added that the two institutes compared the results, and concluded that the experiments are identical, which means that their databases can be combined to form the largest genetic scan of cancer cell lines ever.
Indeed, the research, published in the journal Nature Communications, noted that the size of the combined data set would help accelerate the discovery and development of new cancer drugs.
In this context, the researcher Aviad Cherniak of the Broad Institute said, "This analysis is the first of its kind, and it is also really important for the entire cancer research community."
"This study is important because it demonstrates the validity of experimental methods and the consistency of the data that it produces. It also means that the similarities in the two sets of data have become harmonious. By working together, we will be able to access greater statistical strength," said Dr. Francesco Yorio of the Welcoming Sanger Institute. Much with the goal of narrowing the list of targets to the next generation of cancer treatments. "