A New Pathology Atlas Maps Genes In Cancer

A New Pathology Atlas Maps Genes In Cancer.

Cancer is a leading cause of death worldwide, and there is great need to define the molecular mechanisms driving the development and progression of individual tumours. The Hallmarks of Cancer has provided a framework for a deeper molecular understanding of cancer, and the focus so far has been on the genetic alterations in individual cancers, including genome rearrangements, gene amplifications, and specific cancer-driving mutations. Using systems-level approaches, it is now also possible to define downstream effects of individual genetic alterations in a genome-wide manner. Recent initiatives such as The Cancer Genome Atlas have mapped the genome-wide effect of individual genes on tumour growth. By unraveling genomic alterations in tumours, molecular subtypes of cancers have been identified, which is improving patient diagnostics and treatment. Uhlen et al. developed a computer-based modelling approach to examine different cancer types in nearly 8000 patients. They provide an open-access resource for exploring how the expression of specific genes influences patient survival in 17 different types of cancer. More than 900,000 patient survival profiles are available, including for tumours of colon, prostate, lung, and breast origin. This interactive data set can also be used to generate personalised patient models to predict how metabolic changes can influence tumour growth. Credit: Research article A Pathology Atlas of the Human Cancer Transcriptome by Mathias Uhlen et al. published in Science 18 August 2017. (Note: Posted a similar article A Genome-Wide Cancer Dependency Map Draft on 5 August 2017. The latter article was a pre-published as a draft to the present article here).

Read Article Here:

https://eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2017-08/krio-npa081617.php

The open access Human Protein Atlas Here:

http://www.proteinatlas.org/pathology