PEORIA, IL -- An expert in the genetics of cancer, Dr. Charles G. Mulligham, described the genetic sequencing project taking place at St. Jude Children's Research Hospital, where he works. He spoke to a Peoria audience on Aug. 13.
He delivered the Robert D. Hart, MD, endowed lecture at the new Jump Trading Simulation & Education Center at OSF Saint Francis Medical Center, with his talk sponsored also by Children's Hospital of Illinois and the University of Illinois College of Medicine at Peoria.
The St. Jude project aims to cure cancer in all children, with the implications for adult cancer significant as well, he said.
"Genetic changes trigger abnormal cell growth and cancer," he said. "For a normal cell to turn into a cancer cell it must mutate" and is not held in check by the body. "We need a complete understanding of all inherited and acquired genetic changes."
When no other organization would do it, St. Jude embarked on a $65 million study of the genetics of childhood cancer, especially ALL, or acute lymphoblastic leukemia, the most common childhood cancer.
Twenty different subtypes were identified, each with different genetic changes, he said. The discoveries led to changes in treatment for ALL, he said.
Also among the discoveries: 64 genes that cause childhood leukemia are inherited, with cancer risks for those in the child's family.
Phase 2 of the project, at $30 million for two years, will continue to define the mutations that drive pediatric cancer, he said.
The goal is to sequence comprehensively the DNA and RNA of the cancer, he said, so an accurate diagnosis can be made and treatment developed that works.
"We have an incomplete understanding of the genetic changes driving cancer, so every change must be catalogued and studied," he said.
Genetic sequncing for relapsed tumors revealed a "common ancestor that gives rise to both" the tumor and the relapsed tumor, he said. "This adds complexity to what we are doing."
Genetic sequencing is incredibly complex, and errors can be made in the analysis of the results. The complete process is expensive as well, but costs have dropped to about $10,000 per person."This will become commonplace for all" patients, he said.
All the St. Jude discoveries are published for anyone to read, he said.
Medicare will not pay for genetic sequencing until it is proven to work for treatment. St. Jude aims to prove that, he said, so Medicare and insurance companies will pay.
--Elaine Hopkins
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