DNA Cancer Codes Cracked By International Effort

Enigma23 writes "As reported on news.com.au, scientists from the International Cancer Genome Consortium of 12 institutes around the world will today release the first DNA profiles of some of the most prevalent types of tumors. While the story asserts that 'A new era of cancer treatment has dawned,' I'm a bit more skeptical, given that gene therapy and immunotherapy are still very much in their infancy at the current time."

Comments

So...

[pushing-robot]

Any word on a patch?

I'll take whatever advancement we've got.

[purduephotog]

I was diagnosed with stage 5 cancer at age 17. I'm still alive at age 33.

There's not a day that goes by when I don't look at my disfigured face and wonder what thing would have been like if I'd caught it sooner- according to one doc, I'd have been dead because my body wouldn't have fought it off. Who knows.

But anything that gets a genetic component and allows them to focus better on killing off the cells that have tormented me for over a dozen years I'll be more than grateful. There isn't a trip to the doctor that doesn't send shiver of fear down my spine, whether or not I'll be able to continue to provide for my family- whether or not that cough that started was due to pollen or something else... whether or not that pain in the side is a kidney stone or something more sinister.

Cancer is a killer. Even the survivors die a little every day.

Re:I'll take whatever advancement we've got.

[Wyatt Earp]

I was diagnosed with Acute Lymphocytic Leukemia (ALL) in the fall of 1980, it doesn't have stages like tumor cancers, but at the time I had a 5% chance to make it 3 years. I was clean after 3 months, it relapsed in the fall of 1982, 5% chance to make it 5 years.

Spring of 1991 I was diagnosed early with Stage 0 (Carcinoma in Situ) Testicular Cancer on both sides, surgery and some chemo.

Fall of 2006 I was diagnosed with a non-cancerous tumor in my neck, that left a nice scar.

I'm the only one in my NIH tracking group of ALL from back then to be alive.

Doctors freak me out, IVs of anytime scare the hell out of me, my fear are lumps from a lymph node.

Re:I'll take whatever advancement we've got.

[Calibax]

Staging systems are specific for each type of cancer but I don't think there are any stage 5 cancers. Overall cancer staging goes from stage 0 to stage IV - some cancers go from stage I to stage IV. In all cancers, stage IV means it has metastasized to distant locations in the body, which generally has a very poor prognosis.

In any case, for the majority of tumors, staging has been replaced by the TNM system (tumor, nodes, metastasis). For example, my colon cancer is staged T3N0M0, meaning a stage 3 tumor that has not spread to lymph nodes and has not spread to other organs.

If you have had no re-occurrence of your cancer after 16 then you are almost certainly free of the disease. Most cancers show up before within 5 years if they are going to reappear. That's why people are classified as cancer survivors if they are disease free after 5 years. There are some exceptions (such as breast cancer) that do have a tendency to reoccur in later life, but even then it's not common.

I suggest that after 12+ years you just accept that you are alive and stop living as if there's a Sword of Damocles hanging over your head.

Personally, this cancer survivor does not die a little each day as you suggest - quite the opposite. I try to live life to the full, enjoying my wife and family.

A slightly more informative webpage

[parallel_prankster]

http://www.qcmg.org/cancer.html It gives a background of what they are trying to do, seems interesting.

Re:A slightly more informative webpage

[Anonymous Coward]

Or go to the source ICGC.

Re:More than gene therapy and immunotherapy

[graft]

> I'm a bit more skeptical, given that gene therapy and immunotherapy are > still very much in their infancy at the current time

Those are not the only applications for this knowledge.

Err, to fill in that empty shell of a comment, specifically, this will hopefully generate at least a few new genes that are useful as drug targets. Anything that can make chemotherapy a bit more specific instead of just a general metabolic poison is a bonus.

As A Cancer Researcher...

[00Sovereign]

I've been following this for awhile. Looks like I get to update my "hit list" of gene targets to investigate. And that's what this will ultimately be...a list of interesting genes to look at for further investigation. No cures right away, it will take time to absorb this data into the collective intelligence of the medical research community and years to turn it into new treatments.

Re:It's really too bad.

[wealthychef]

Everyone always forgets about the deep anal probe!

That's because the aliens make them forget.

Re:More than gene therapy and immunotherapy

[silentcoder]

You must favor the complete privatization of police forces, so the protection of lives and property and the arrests of criminals is bought on an open market and only available to those who can afford to buy it.

See what I did there ? Let's analyse your post:

Fallacy 1: Begs the question
Fallacy 2: Does not follow.
Fallacy 3: Strawman attack.

Stating that capitalism has no place at the sickbed does not imply or advocate that the correct method of paying doctors and research is governmental. This is the most common alternate system that has been tried (with huge success in general) but it's by no means the only one. There are quite a few completely different setups out there. Even your own country has thousands of free clinics run by charitable donation - e.g. there is no profit motive and it's not paid by government EITHER.

There are at least four other healthcare systems in the world where the cost of healthcare is shared by various entities - so not all paid by government and that's just what's in active use.
The amount of possible ways to do it that hasn't been tried and perhaps hasn't even been thought of yet is potentially infinite.

The parent pointed out problems with profit-motive in healthcare. You assumed without any evidence that he must therefore be advocating government paid healthcare. He may or may not advocate this, but the point is - you don't know if that is what he advocates because he did NOT suggest any particular alternate system - he merely said that he is not in favor of capitalist medicine. You then took what you perceive as the worst possible alternative, stated that he *must* be advocating it, and attacked that. Three fallacies in one short sentence- impressive.

Or is it just typical American dualist thinking ? Every issue only has two sides and two possible answers right ? That's why you can have a "democracy" where only two parties have any actual power, it works because your your entire 350 million strong population consists of people who have only one of the same two opinions on everything, and conveniently - your opinion one one issue means you must have the exact same opinion on all other issues as all the other people who share your opinion on this one...

Actually... that sounds rather silly when you think about it... it suggests a culture that has utterly and completely marginalized any individual thinking when all the other parties out there (the greens, the libertarians etc.) even in coalition can't get enough votes for a single seat in government. You've had an independent candidate in every single election for at least a hundred years, but I don't believe you've had an independent candidate *win* the presidential election in your entire history...

Well... the real world is not so simple. Most issues don't have just two extremes as answers, and people who actually think about things can adjust their opinion to the specific issue rather than attempting to fit one ideological extreme to all issues.
The best way for society to solve any given problem may be completely different from the best way to solve another.
Very few people would think that police protection should cost you money - because when you need it most, is often when you can least afford it (not to mention - a truly private police force would have zero motivation to pursue a murderer unless the family of the victim is wealthy). You happily accept that law enforcement is best done when provided entirely by the government (there is no logical requirement that the people who make the law should enforce it - we do it that way because historically we've learned it works best) but you cannot contemplate that perhaps the same failures of the market may apply to healthcare ? So maybe the government paying for all would, while not perfect, actually be better than a capitalist system ?
You didn't actually state your reasons for being against that - you merely declared that you are with no justification - when the arguments in favor of it are quite strong, and cleverly avoided having to even consider that there are a multitude of OTHER ways medicine could be funded which may be better than EITHER capitalism OR government paid.

In short... EPIC FAIL.