Researchers investigate gene network to identify “cancer driver genes”

 

Drug Target Review (December 14th, 2021)

A team at the Georgia Institute of Technology, US, have found that an important class of genetic changes in cancer patients may be happening in places where scientists do not normally look: the network of gene-gene interactions associated with cancer onset and progression. Their discovery may uncover new targets for gene therapies.

Cancer chemotherapy has undergone a paradigm shift in recent years with traditional treatments such as broad-spectrum cytotoxic agents being complemented or replaced by drugs that target specific genes believed to drive the onset and progression of the disease. This more personalised approach to chemotherapy became possible when genomic profiling of individual patient tumours led researchers to identify specific “cancer driver genes” that led to the onset and development of cancer.

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