Cancer Patient's Genome Decoded

For the first time ever, the complete genome of a cancer patient has been decoded, revealing genes that have never before been linked to cancer affecting the white blood cells.

The woman, in her 50's died only 24 months after being diagnosed with acute myeloid leukemia (AML). This cancer is know to, if not treated, advance quickly and kill the patient within just a few months. AML usually starts in cells that normally turn into the different types of blood cells. This means it normally starts growing in bone marrow, but most often moves into the blood, sometimes spreading it to the lymph nodes, liver, spleen and central nervous system. It is said that most patients with AML never live past five years after diagnosis.

Ley, a researcher at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, and his colleagues tried to find any mutations in genes that may trigger the start of AML. Ley sequenced the genes in both a normal skin cell, and a tumor cell found in the woman's marrow, using a technique called high-throughput sequencing.

By comparing the normal genes to those of the cancerous cell, they were able to find exactly where the 10 mutated genes that triggered the AML were. Previous research had found only two of these mutations and linked them with AML.

One of these genes can affect how a drug can enter a cell, four promote the cell's growth, and three supress tumor growth.

Because most of the genetics behind the disease were unknown, treatment of AML had changed little in past years, the researchers reported.

Each year, about 13,000 people are diagnosed with AML, usually in people age 60 and over. 8,000 people are killed by the disease.