New publication of drug data to fuel genetic research in cancer treatment

This week (July 25), the Genomics of Drug Sensitivity in Cancer project released the results of four years of intense data collection and exploration, which will allow genetic research to address cancer treatment in people with cancer. the world. The freely available dataset includes unique data comparing the responses of nearly 1,000 cancer cell lines to 453 licensed and experimental drugs.

The project, led by researchers from the Wellcome Sanger Institute and Mbadachusetts General Hospital, builds on the study of the past six years and virtually doubles the amount of unpublished data available on the website, making it the largest public dataset of its kind in the world. .

This new publication brings the amount of data freely available and freely available on the website to 453 cancer treatment compounds, 989 cancer cell lines, 494,973 genomic badociations tested and 386,293 one-dose response curves. drug.

The previous study had already made discoveries that had led to trials of PARP inhibitors in childhood bone cancer, directly contributed to the development of drugs in the pharmaceutical industry and fueled 70 research studies in the world. Every day, more than 350 users access the datasets, which should increase with the new release of data. The project team hopes that this improved resource will help fuel new discoveries and therapeutic options for many years.

The Genomics Project of Drug Sensitivity in Cancer is a pioneering public-private partnership funded by Wellcome. It combines samples of inpatient cancer cell lines with licensed and experimental cancer drugs from a number of pharmaceutical companies, and applies extensive observation and genetic badysis to determine how the underlying changes in the DNA of a person affect his response to treatment. The ultimate goal is to identify biomarkers that could be used clinically to identify the most effective drugs to treat a patient's cancer, based on the tumor's genetic profile.

Together, the Wellcome Sanger Institute (UK) and the Center for Molecular Therapeutics of the Mbadachusetts General Hospital Cancer Center (USA) studied samples of 30 different cancers in adults and children . The types of tumors include blood cancers and solid tumors, primitive and metastatic, common and rare. The new data is a valuable resource providing cancer scientists with opportunities to learn more about how cancer cells function, their response to treatment, and the creation of new treatments and drug combinations.

Now part of the Cancer Dependency Map project, the extensive dataset is available at http: // www.cancerrxgene.org website.

Mathew Garnett, co-director of the Cancer Genomics Genomics Project and group leader at the Wellcome Sanger Institute, said:

We are delighted to have been able to create and distribute this valuable data to the global cancer research community. Our genomics database of drug susceptibility to cancer is the world's largest directory of information on the influence of the underlying genomic landscape of cancer on its response to cancer treatments. Cancer. We hope this will provide new information that will point to new ways to target and treat individual tumors. "

The team has other data releases planned in the near future.