Genome study brings blood cancer into sharp focus

Bio Technician demonstrates the loading of the high tech 454 Life Science sequencing machine in the sequencing laboratory at the J. Craig Venter Institute in Rockville, Maryland, in this March 29, 2010 file photo.

Credit: Reuters/Larry Downing (UNITED STATES - Tags: SCI TECH)

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By Julie Steenhuysen

CHICAGO | Wed Mar 23, 2011 2:17pm EDT
 

Scientists have mapped out the full genetic code of 38 people with multiple myeloma, uncovering never-before suspected genes that play a role in the blood cancer and showing that a promising new drug might help.

Studying the genetic blueprint of so many people with this cancer allows researchers to have a much more comprehensive picture of what drives the cancer, and it gives drug companies much better clues about how to shut down the disease.

"If we compare the tumor genome to the normal genome, that gives us great clues about what makes a normal cell into a cancer cell," said Todd Golub of the Broad Institute and the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, who helped lead the study published on Wednesday in the journal Nature.