This new method throws light on origin of cancer and its best treating options
A combination of three existing methods of finding out genetic mutations in cancer cells, this new method will help doctors find out how the cancer has initiated and enable them make better decisions on the best treating options.
It would now be easy for doctors to detect how the cancer began and what would be the most effective treatment for it by studying the mutations in DNA of cancer cells. Thanks to a group of scientists from Penn State College of Medicine. that has come up with a new method of finding these mutations which, until now, was difficult, say researchers. This novel way is expected to offer better results.
The new framework provides a combination of three existing ways of finding these large mutations or structural variants into a single and more detail picture, states a recent media report. This study was published in Nature Genetics.
Feng Yue, assistant professor of biochemistry and molecular biology at Penn State College of Medicine, reportedly said: "We were able to design and use this computational framework to connect the three methods together, to get the most comprehensive view of the genome. Each method by itself can only review a portion of the structural variations, but when you integrate the results of the three different methods, you can get the most comprehensive view of the cancer genome."
According to the researchers, it is important to be aware of the structural variants which are large mutations in DNA that can turn on the cancer-causing genes. When the doctors know about these variants, it becomes easier for them to decide on the best treatment plan.
Explaining the importance of finding these structural variants, Yue reportedly said: "If you are a cancer patient, knowing about the structural variants that lead to the cancer can help us understand why you got sick and possibly which treatment could be best."
Optical mapping, high-throughput chromosome conformation capture, also known as Hi-C and whole genome sequencing are the three existing methods which have been combined by the researchers to explore a majority of already known structural variants.
This new method has enabled the researchers to find structural variations for over 30 types of cancer cells. Also, the same method has been used to understand the reason behind certain classes of structural variants leading to cancers.