IIT Madras researchers create cancer tissue bank for customised Indian patient therapies, Pg8.

Key Highlights:

• IIT Madras researchers have created a cancer tissue bank to develop customized therapies for Indian patients.
• The bank contains nearly 7,000 tissue samples of various cancer types collected from hospitals across India over the last seven years.
• Researchers have sequenced the complete exome of several breast and oral cancer samples to identify genetic mutations.
• A new genetic panel for pancreatic cancer has been developed, incorporating both global and Indian-specific mutations.
• Researchers are also working on identifying biomarkers in blood for early detection of pancreatic cancer and paediatric leukaemia.

Detailed Insights:

• The cancer genome and tissue bank aims to test therapies on lab-grown tumor cells, helping clinicians choose the most effective treatment for patients.
• Researchers discovered a mutation in breast cancer samples that occurs more frequently in Indian patients, potentially a founder mutation.
• The team found a higher prevalence of triple negative breast cancer in India, which lacks common receptors and is more difficult to treat.
• The developed genetic panel for pancreatic cancer includes unique changes observed in Indian patients, awaiting a patent.
• Non-invasive tests for paediatric leukaemia are being developed using collected genomic data to enable early diagnosis.
• Identifying biomarkers and targets from genomic data can aid in early diagnosis and development of better treatments for aggressive cancers.

Scientific/Technical Concepts Involved:

• Exome: The protein-coding regions of our genetic information, representing just over 1% of the entire genome.
• Biomarker: A measurable indicator of a biological state or condition, used to detect diseases.
• Founder Mutation: A disease-causing genetic mutation occurring at a high frequency in a particular population due to a common ancestor.
• Triple Negative Breast Cancer: A type of breast cancer that lacks the three common receptors targeted by breast cancer treatments.