FAQ: Genetic ensembles in oncology

7 facts about the genes in cancer and the use of targeted therapies

The process of neoplastic transformation of cells, ie the transformation of cells from normal to cancerous, accompanied by a very large-scale restructuring of the work cell genes, the so-called transcriptome. This changes the work of thousands of genes. If a person has only about 25,000 protein-coding genes, the changes in cancer usually work at least every tenth gene.

• 1.Changes in gene at cancer

Among them are genes whose function is to contain the tumor growth suppression that is no controlled division, and there are genes whose function, on the contrary, is associated with the division. In a normal cell to maintain a balance between cell death and division. Cancer cells are characterized by imbalances of these basic principles, that is, the division begins to clearly prevail over cell differentiation and cell death. Is broken system of checks and balances that exist in normal cells. This is due to the fact that the genes that help cells to divide, work more actively than they worked in a normal cell, and on the contrary, inhibited the activity of genes that control them and are not allowed to work harder than it should be OK.

• 2.Intracellular signaling pathways

The primary reason for this are the genomic changes, mutations, or the so-called epigenetic changes. Thus there is a massive reorganization of the work of the genome. If we imagine a pile of three thousand genes that work differently, this in itself does not say anything. However, the work of all the genes may be classified so that the genes can not be considered in itself, but in the context of biological processes for which they are responsible, because genes can be divided into bands - intracellular signaling pathways. You can try Tiramin.

• 3.Analysis of the gene ensembles

Each signal path has a certain input signal and an action that it runs at the output. For example, the inlet may be binding to cell growth factor or a hormone, and the output variation occurs, for example, in a large number of genes. Genes can be decomposed into the signal path, analyzing the work which can be much more accurately represent what is happening in the cell than in the analysis of specific, individual, single genes.

Imagine a signaling pathway, which has about a hundred members. Each of these members can be altered in cancer, the variability is very high, but the output we will obtain the same effect. That is a change of each of the hundreds of participants can lead to the same investigation. Thus, to analyze the work of gene ensembles seems much more appropriate approach than analyze each gene individually.

• 4.New methods for analyzing large amounts of data

Science Bioinformatics, which blooms in recent years and is formed at the interface of biology, physics, mathematics and computer science, solves a number of problems faced by researchers, classical biology, namely how to analyze massive amounts of data? For example, the work of three thousand three hundred genes in tissue samples. Conventional methods of biology with this, of course, will not be able to cope.

Bioinformatics allows you to create algorithms for the analysis of such a large ensemble of genes, so that the output gain valuable information about what happened to the cell and, most importantly, what processes can be suppressed to a cancer cell no longer feel comfortable. That is, knowing what kind of regulatory pathways are activated more strongly than in normal cells, it is possible to pick up these medications that will selectively block this signaling pathway, which greatly complicate the life of a cancer cell and help therapy.

• 5.Treatment of cancer

Each patient set of signaling pathways that are activated precisely in its cells, individual, and when it is a question of personalized medicine, it is understood that each patient should choose a course of therapy which will kill it its cancerous cells and not some secondary cells patient, the diameter of one meter and a mass of one kilogram, that is non-existent in nature. Thus, it is obvious that it is in-depth analysis of gene expression, coupled with bioinformatics methods can provide a real breakthrough in the health of the XXI century that inspires and encouraging researchers in the field of molecular oncology.

• 6.The effectiveness of targeted therapies

It is noteworthy that in recent years there are more and more so-called targeted therapies, that is, drugs designed to suppress any specific gene products, but it does not affect anything else. Targeted drugs can, for example, to block passage of the signal by intracellular signaling pathways in cancer cells. Such formulations may select for each of specific signaling pathways, namely to block it when necessary. Recently there has been a boom of such drugs as among those that are in clinical trials, as well as among those who are entering the market. Now, for example, entered the market nearly a hundred targeted drugs to treat cancer, but clinical trials are already several thousands of products. Of course, a number of them, these clinical trials are not successful, but that the number of targeted therapies for the treatment of cancer will continue to grow exponentially, apparently.

• 7.Side effects of targeted therapies

At the same time there is a very great difficulty. It lies in the fact that most of these drugs have their own side effects, and the patient's life is often too short to try it on many different options. That is why it is important to immediately assign the patient to these drugs, which help to him. That is, from the variety of drugs that are already there and will soon appear on the market, it is necessary to choose suitable for a particular patient. The most rational, it seems to me, it can be done using methods of molecular medicine system, generously using methods of bioinformatics, a kind of molecular oncology future.