Project provides ‘unprecedented understanding’ of cancers

The research revealed insights into 3 critical oncogenic processes—germline and somatic mutations, the influence of the tumor’s underlying genome and epigenome on gene and protein expression, and the interplay of tumor and immune cells.

“For the 10,000 tumors we analyzed, we now know—in detail—the inherited mutations driving cancer and the genetic errors that accumulate as people age, increasing the risk of cancer,” Dr Ding said. “This is the first definitive summary of the genetics behind 33 major types of cancer.”

“TCGA has created a catalogue of alterations that occur in a variety of cancer types,” said Katherine Hoadley, PhD, of University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.

“Having this catalogue of alterations is really important for us to look, in future studies, at why these alterations are there and to predict outcomes for patients.”

Signaling pathways

The final Pan-Cancer Atlas summary paper details TCGA research on the genomic alterations in the signaling pathways that control cell-cycle progression, cell death, and cell growth. The work highlights the similarities and differences in these processes across a range of cancers.

The researchers believe these studies have revealed new patterns of potential vulnerabilities that might aid the development of targeted and combination therapies.