(Press-News.org) New research partly led by UC San Francisco-affiliated scientists suggests that one in 10 cancer patients would be more accurately diagnosed if their tumors were defined by cellular and molecular criteria rather than by the tissues in which they originated, and that this information, in turn, could lead to more appropriate treatments.
In the largest study of its kind to date, scientists analyzed molecular and genetic characteristics of more than 3,500 tumor samples of 12 different cancer types using multiple genomic technology platforms.
Cancers traditionally have been categorized by their "tissue of origin"—such as breast, bladder, or kidney cancer. But tissues are composed of different types of cells, and the new work indicates that in many cases the type of cell affected by cancer may be a more useful guide to treatment than the tissue in which a tumor originates.
The study, published August 7, 2014 in the online edition of Cell, was conducted as part of The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) initiative spearheaded by the National Cancer Institute and National Human Genome Research Institute, both part of the National Institutes of Health.
In the new work, TCGA Research Network scientists analyzed DNA, RNA, and protein from 12 tumor types using six different genomic technologies to see how different tumor types compare to one another. The team arrived at a classification based on 12 cancer subtypes. Five of these matched up well with tissue-of-origin classifications, but several newly identified subtypes were seen to affect a variety of tissues.
"This genomic study not only challenges our existing system of classifying cancers based on tissue type, but also provides a massive new data resource for further exploration, as well as a comprehensive list of the molecular features distinguishing each of the newly described cancer classes," said co-senior author Christopher Benz, MD, professor at the Buck Institute for Research on Aging, adjunct professor of medicine at UCSF, and a member of UCSF's Helen Diller Family Comprehensive Cancer Center.
Particularly striking results were seen in bladder and breast cancers. At least three different subtypes of bladder cancer were identified, one virtually indistinguishable from lung adenocarcinomas, and another most similar to squamous-cell cancers of the head and neck and of the lungs. (In the new study, these squamous-cell cancers appeared to form their own subtype, whether they originated in the lungs or in the head and neck.) The findings may help explain why patients with bladder cancer "often respond very differently when treated with the same systemic therapy for their seemingly identical cancer type," said Benz.
The study also confirmed known differences between subtypes of breast cancer known as "basal-like" and "luminal" cancers. But because the researchers compared these cancers not just with one another but with many other types of cancer, they were able to reveal that these differences are quite profound, and that basal-like breast cancers constitute their own distinct class. "What's amazing is that basal breast cancer is as different from luminal breast cancer as it is from, say, kidney cancer," said co-lead author Denise Wolf, PhD, a research scientist based in UCSF's Department of Laboratory Medicine.
Commonly referred to as "triple-negative," basal-like cancers are particularly aggressive and are more prevalent among African-American women and younger women. "Even though these basal-like cancers arise in the breast, on the molecular level they have more in common with ovarian cancers and cancers of squamous-cell origin than with other subtypes of breast cancer," said co-lead author Christina Yau, PhD, a staff scientist at the Buck Institute and assistant professor of surgery at UCSF.
TCGA was launched in 2006 with the goal of compiling genomic atlases of more than 20 types of cancer. As the project proceeded, however, commonalities across cancer types began to emerge, which led to the creation of the TCGA "Pan-Cancer" project, the source of the data used in the new study.
"This is the first time ever you've been able to point to important molecular features shared by basal breast cancer, and by squamous head-and-neck cancer and lung cancer," said Wolf. "And the same is true of immune activation—we found that different cancer types have very similar immune signatures, a factor that may be relevant clinically with the rise of new immune therapies."
Benz thinks the number of patients eligible for reclassification will swell when more tumor samples and additional tumor types are included in the Pan-Cancer project's next round of analysis, which is expected to include more than 20 different tumor types. "We're just appreciating the tip of the iceberg when considering the potential of this multi-platform type of genomic analysis," Benz said. "It could be that as many as 30 or 50 percent of cancers need to be reclassified."
Benz is hopeful that these studies will fuel clinical trial designs based on genomic reclassification of tumors whereby patients become eligible for novel therapeutics. "Although follow-up studies are needed to validate and refine this newly proposed cancer classification system," Benz said, "it will ultimately provide the biologic foundation for that era of personalized cancer treatment that patients and clinicians eagerly await."
INFORMATION:
In addition to Benz, Yau and Wolf, UCSF-affiliated researchers taking part in the new study included Laura J. van 't Veer, PhD, leader of the Breast Oncology Program at the UCSF Helen Diller Family Comprehensive Cancer Center, and Eric A. Collisson, MD, assistant professor of medicine. They were joined by co-senior authors Joshua M. Stuart, PhD, of UC Santa Cruz, and Charles M. Perou, PhD, of the University of North Carolina (UNC) Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center; co-lead authors Katherine Hoadley, PhD, of UNC, and Andrew D. Cherniack, PhD, of The Eli and Edythe Broad Institute of Harvard and MIT; and a team of more than 150 TCGA Research Network scientists from many different institutions across the country. Additional details about TCGA can be found at cancergenome.nih.gov.
UCSF is the nation's leading university exclusively focused on health. Now celebrating the 150th anniversary of its founding as a medical college, UCSF is dedicated to transforming health worldwide through advanced biomedical research, graduate-level education in the life sciences and health professions, and excellence in patient care. It includes top-ranked graduate schools of dentistry, medicine, nursing and pharmacy; a graduate division with world-renowned programs in the biological sciences, a preeminent biomedical research enterprise and two top-tier hospitals, UCSF Medical Center and UCSF Benioff Children's Hospital San Francisco. Please visit http://www.ucsf.edu.
Cancer categories recast in largest-ever genomic study
Research suggests one in 10 patients could be classified differently, and perhaps receive different treatments
2014-08-07
ELSE PRESS RELEASES FROM THIS DATE:
Scientists uncover key piece to cancer cell survival puzzle
2014-08-07
A chance meeting between two leading UK and US scientists could have finally helped solve a key mystery in cancer research.
Scientists have long known that chromosomal defects occur as cells repeatedly divide. Over time, these defects are linked to the onset of cancer.
Now, Professor Duncan Baird and his team from Cardiff University working in collaboration with Eric A. Hendrickson from the University of Minnesota, have identified a specific gene that human cells require in order to survive these types of defects.
"We have found a gene that appears to be crucial ...
Regulations needed to identify potentially invasive biofuel crops
2014-08-07
URBANA, Ill. – If the hottest new plant grown as a biofuel crop is approved based solely on its greenhouse gas emission profile, its potential as the next invasive species may not be discovered until it's too late. In response to this need to prevent such invasions, researchers at the University of Illinois have developed both a set of regulatory definitions and provisions and a list of 49 low-risk biofuel plants from which growers can choose.
Lauren Quinn, an invasive plant ecologist at U of I's Energy Biosciences Institute, recognized that most of the news about invasive ...
Peer-reviewed paper says all ivory markets must close
2014-08-07
NEW YORK (August 7, 2014) – The message is simple: to save elephants, all ivory markets must close and all ivory stockpiles must be destroyed, according to a new peer-reviewed paper by the Wildlife Conservation Society. The paper says that corruption, organized crime, and a lack of enforcement make any legal trade of ivory a major factor contributing to the demise of Africa's elephants.
Appearing in the August 7th online edition of the journal Conservation Biology, the paper says that if we are to conserve significant wild populations of elephants across all regions ...
Carnegie Mellon's new programming language accommodates multiple languages in same program
2014-08-07
PITTSBURGH—Computer scientists at Carnegie Mellon University have designed a way to safely use multiple programming languages within the same program, enabling programmers to use the language most appropriate for each function while guarding against code injection attacks, one of the most severe security threats in Web applications today.
A research group led by Jonathan Aldrich, associate professor in the Institute for Software Research (ISR), is developing a programming language called Wyvern that makes it possible to construct programs using a variety of targeted, ...
Stock prices of companies that use the same underwriter tend to move together
2014-08-07
HOUSTON – (Aug. 7, 2014) – The stock prices of companies that use the same lead underwriter during their equity offerings tend to move together, according to a new study by financial economics experts at Rice University and the University of Alabama.
"We tested the hypothesis that investment banking networks affect stock prices and trading behavior," said James Weston, a professor of finance at Rice's Jones Graduate School of Business. "Consistent with the notion that investment banks such as Goldman Sachs and Merrill Lynch serve as information hubs for segmented groups ...
Elderly with depression, mild cognitive impairment more vulnerable to accelerated brain aging
2014-08-07
PITTSBURGH, Aug. 7, 2014 – People who develop depression and mild cognitive impairment (MCI) after age 65 are more likely to have biological and brain imaging markers that reflect a greater vulnerability for accelerated brain aging, according to a study conducted by researchers at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine. The findings were published online in Molecular Psychiatry.
Older adults with major depression have double the risk of developing dementia in the future compared with those who have never had the mood disorder, said senior investigator Meryl A. ...
Largest cancer genetic analysis reveals new way of classifying cancer
2014-08-07
Researchers with The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) Research Network have completed the largest, most diverse tumor genetic analysis ever conducted, revealing a new approach to classifying cancers. The work, led by researchers at the UNC Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and other TCGA sites, not only revamps traditional ideas of how cancers are diagnosed and treated, but could also have a profound impact on the future landscape of drug development.
"We found that one in 10 cancers analyzed in this study would be classified ...
Physical fitness can help prevent young adolescents' depression, study finds
2014-08-07
WASHINGTON – Physically fit sixth-graders – especially girls – are less likely to report feeling depressed when they reach seventh grade, according to a study presented at the American Psychological Association's 122nd Annual Convention.
Even when researchers considered existing symptoms of depression and weight, sixth-grade girls who performed better on a cardiorespiratory fitness test were less likely to feel depressed when they were surveyed again in seventh grade. There was a smaller but similar effect on boys' depression, according to the findings presented by Camilo ...
Fundamental plant chemicals trace back to bacteria
2014-08-07
MADISON, Wis. — A fundamental chemical pathway that all plants use to create an essential amino acid needed by all animals to make proteins has now been traced to two groups of ancient bacteria. The pathway is also known for making hundreds of chemicals, including a compound that makes wood strong and the pigments that make red wine red.
"We have been trying to unravel the source of the phenylalanine amino acid for some time," says Hiroshi Maeda, an assistant professor of botany at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. "Plants use this pathway to make natural products ...
Cell mechanics may hold key to how cancer spreads and recurs
2014-08-07
CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — Cancer cells that break away from tumors to go looking for a new home may prefer to settle into a soft bed, according to new findings from researchers at the University of Illinois.
Some particularly enterprising cancer cells can cause a cancer to spread to other organs, called metastasis, or evade treatment to resurface after a patient is thought to be in remission. The Illinois team, along with colleagues in China, found that these so-called tumor-repopulating cells may lurk quietly in stiffer cellular environments, but thrive in a softer space. The ...
LAST 30 PRESS RELEASES:
Less intensive works best for agricultural soil
Arctic rivers project receives “national champion” designation from frontiers foundation
Computational biology paves the way for new ALS tests
Study offers new hope for babies born with opioid withdrawal syndrome
UT, Volkswagen Group of America celebrate research partnership
New Medicare program could dramatically improve affordability for cancer drugs – if patients enroll
Are ‘zombie’ skin cells harmful or helpful? The answer may be in their shapes
University of Cincinnati Cancer Center presents research at AACR 2025
Head and neck, breast, lung and survivorship studies headline Dana-Farber research at AACR Annual Meeting 2025
AACR: Researchers share promising results from MD Anderson clinical trials
New research explains why our waistlines expand in middle age
Advancements in muon detection: Taishan Antineutrino Observatory's innovative top veto tracker
Chips off the old block
Microvascular decompression combined with nerve combing for atypical trigeminal neuralgia
Cutting the complexity from digital carpentry
Lung immune cell type “quietly” controls inflammation in COVID-19
Fiscal impact of expanded Medicare coverage for GLP-1 receptor agonists to treat obesity
State and sociodemographic trends in US cigarette smoking with future projections
Young adults drive historic decline in smoking
NFCR congratulates Dr. Robert C. Bast, Jr. on receiving the AACR-Daniel D. Von Hoff Award for Outstanding Contributions to Education and Training in Cancer Research
Chimpanzee stem cells offer new insights into early embryonic development
This injected protein-like polymer helps tissues heal after a heart attack
FlexTech inaugural issue launches, pioneering interdisciplinary innovation in flexible technology
In Down syndrome mice, 40Hz light and sound improve cognition, neurogenesis, connectivity
Methyl eugenol: potential to inhibit oxidative stress, address related diseases, and its toxicological effects
A vascularized multilayer chip reveals shear stress-induced angiogenesis in diverse fluid conditions
AI helps unravel a cause of Alzheimer's disease and identify a therapeutic candidate
Coalition of Autism Scientists critiques US Department of Health and Human Services Autism Research Initiative
Structure dictates effectiveness, safety in nanomedicine
Mission accomplished for the “T2T” Hong Kong Bauhinia Genome Project
[Press-News.org] Cancer categories recast in largest-ever genomic studyResearch suggests one in 10 patients could be classified differently, and perhaps receive different treatments