New gene study could help beat mesothelioma
From: AAP General News (Australia)
Date: April 15, 2005
MELBOURNE, April 15 AAP - Australian researchers say a new three-year study
into the
genetic makeup of cancerous mesothelioma cells could lead to a breakthrough in
the fight
against the deadly cancer.
Researchers from the Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre and the University of
Western Australia
will use cutting edge gene technology to study genetic changes in tumorous
cells.
Australia has the world's highest rates of the deadly cancer, in which
cancerous cells
grow around the lining of the chest and lungs.
Dr Andrew Holloway of the Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre said people with
mesothelioma
wasted away quickly, suffered shortness of breath to the point where they could
not stand
up and experienced crippling chest pain.
"It's a terrible, terrible cancer," he said.
Dr Holloway said new comparative genomic rehabilitation (CGH) technology
would give
his team a better view of the DNA of the cancerous cells than they had ever had
before.
Cancerous cells created extra copies of some DNA and did away with other
sections of
DNA, and this helped promote cancerous growth.
"(CGH) enables you to look at the genome in a density of (genetic) markers
that hasn't
been possible before," he said.
Dr Holloway said the project would produce the largest data set of its kind
in the
world and should give researchers a much better understanding of the origins and
development
of mesothelioma.
"The Australian economy will need $5 billion to fund the compensation,
treatment and
management of mesothelioma in the community," he said.
"This research is critical in working toward minimising these costs, with the
eventual
hope of developing tools for earlier diagnosis and treatment."
