Research and Discoveries in Cancer

From the beginning of this century, cancer research has been focussing on Biological Information for every single tumour, to know why some people with same genetic predisposition and living in the same environment, get cancer and others do not. The focus has also been to discover therapeutic interventions to treat cancer. Research has made a large data available for practically every cancer type and many histological subtypes. However, decades of Research has not reduced the cancer burden globally.

Genome project was started with great enthusiasm and passion, with the objective of sequencing and identifying 3 billion genes in the Human Genome, so that the genetic roots of the disease can be found and specific treatment options could be developed. Human Genome was decoded at the end of the century. The entire Genome of 1000 people from all over the world was studied. The findings revealed that 1% of the Genome of every individual is unique but balance 99% is identical. The scientists are still doing research on what are the differences in this 1%, which can prove to be highly critical. Almost 800 genetic variations have been identified in the individual Genome, which are responsible for major diseases including cancer. To evaluate these genetic variations, scientists are looking for biological markers associated with cancer. We need 8000 biomarkers, but as of today, only 2 are available. We are still not able to predict which pre-malignant oral lesions will become malignant.