OF4-11/06/08 9:25 AM
DECODING A CANCER PATIENT'S GENOME.
The Osgood File. I'm Charles Osgood on the CBS Radio Network.
Medical science is beginning to close in on understanding of how genetic mutations trigger the development of certain cancers. An important step has been announced at the Genome Center of Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis.
SOT - Dr. Richard Wilson, Washington University School of Medicine
"For the first time, we've sequenced the entire genome of a cancer patient..."
The patient whose entire genome was sequenced at Washington University School of Medicine was a 50-year-old woman who died of acute myeloid leukemia --- AML, as it's called --- 23 months after being diagnosed. The researchers were able to pinpoint 10 mutated genes apparently involved in triggering AML.
Dr. Richard Wilson was one of the researchers working under Dr. Timothy Ley.
SOT - Dr. Richard Wilson
"The idea is to better understand the actual disease, why it might have occurred, and what you can learn that might make it much easier to diagnose and treat the cancer."
There's been no other way to identify the mutated genes, until genome sequencing became available. And that information could be very helpful.
SOT - Dr. Richard Wilson
"One of the things you'd like to know is: Are there particular mutations to a person's genome that might give you some idea as to their prognosis..."
The information they've already learned from analyzing this first cancer genome sequencing will be helpful to doctors treating other AML patients everywhere.
SOT - Dr. Richard Wilson
"We've learned some things from this first genome that an oncologist can actually use when he or she start to think about how they might treat a cancer patient."
And this is just the beginning, says Dr. Wilson.
SOT - Dr. Richard Wilson
"This is the first real application of human genome analysis. We have this new technology that allows us to look at individual genomes --- relatively quickly, relatively inexpensively. And we're going to learn a tremendous amount about human disease over the next five, ten years with this type of approach. So, that's very, very exciting to me."
The Osgood File. Transcripts, podcasts and Mp3's of what you've just heard are available on the web at theosgoodfile.com. I'm Charles Osgood on the CBS Radio Network.
The Osgood File. November 6th, 2008. |
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