New gene study could help beat mesothelioma
From: AAP General News (Australia)
Date: April 15, 2005
MELBOURNE, April 15 AAP - Australian researchers say a new three-year study into the
genetic makeup of cancerous mesothelioma cells could lead to a breakthrough in the fight
against the deadly cancer.
Researchers from the Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre and the University of Western Australia
will use cutting edge gene technology to study genetic changes in tumorous cells.
Australia has the world's highest rates of the deadly cancer, in which cancerous cells
grow around the lining of the chest and lungs.
Dr Andrew Holloway of the Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre said people with mesothelioma
wasted away quickly, suffered shortness of breath to the point where they could not stand
up and experienced crippling chest pain.
"It's a terrible, terrible cancer," he said.
Dr Holloway said new comparative genomic rehabilitation (CGH) technology would give
his team a better view of the DNA of the cancerous cells than they had ever had before.
Cancerous cells created extra copies of some DNA and did away with other sections of
DNA, and this helped promote cancerous growth.
"(CGH) enables you to look at the genome in a density of (genetic) markers that hasn't
been possible before," he said.
Dr Holloway said the project would produce the largest data set of its kind in the
world and should give researchers a much better understanding of the origins and development
of mesothelioma.
"The Australian economy will need $5 billion to fund the compensation, treatment and
management of mesothelioma in the community," he said.
"This research is critical in working toward minimising these costs, with the eventual
hope of developing tools for earlier diagnosis and treatment."