Widespread News coverage of Breast Cancer discovery published in Nature.
A Cancer Evolves
Breast Cancer Research published in Nature October 8, 2009
Scientists from several research departments within the BC Cancer Agency including the Michael Smith Genome Sciences Centre; Molecular Oncology; Centre for Translational and Applied Genomics; Medical Oncology; and the Deeley Research Centre, along with colleagues from the University of British Columbia (Department of Pathology) and Cancer Research UK have had their ground breaking research published in the prestigious scientific journal Nature. According to the findings, primary breast cancers acquire new mutations in their protein coding regions as they progress towards metastasis. The research team sequenced the genome and transcriptome of a metastatic breast cancer at high depth, using the Illumina Genome Analyzer GAiix platform, and analyzed the data for somatic coding mutations. The findings have an impact on the understanding of heterogeneity in cells at tumour sites and the evolution of cancer.
The full scientific paper, "Mutational evolution in a lobular breast tumour profiled at single nucleotide resolution" is available on-line.
Drs. Marco Marra and Sam Aparicio, the lead scientists on this project, were interviewed by CTV News, Global TV, the CBC National and CBC News website.
Articles reporting on the significance of this research have also been published in the Vancouver Sun, the Province, the Globe and Mail, CanWest News Service, LA Times, Triangle Business Journal, and Reuters