Pan-Cancer Project discovers causes of previously unexplained cancers, pinpoints cancer-causing events and zeroes in on mechanisms of development
Toronto – (February 5, 2020) An international team has completed the most comprehensive study of whole cancer genomes to date, significantly improving our fundamental understanding of cancer and signposting new directions for its diagnosis and treatment.
The ICGC/TCGA Pan-Cancer Analysis of Whole Genomes Project (PCAWG), known as the Pan-Cancer Project, a collaboration involving more than 1,300 scientists and clinicians from 37 countries, analyzed more than 2,600 genomes of 38 different tumour types, creating a huge resource of primary cancer genomes. This was then the launch-point for 16 working groups studying multiple aspects of cancer’s development, causation, progression and classification.
Previous studies focused on the 1 per cent of the genome that codes for proteins, analogous to mapping the coasts of the continents. The Pan-Cancer Project explored in considerably greater detail the remaining 99 per cent of the genome, including key regions that control switching genes on and off — analogous to mapping the interiors of continents versus just their coastlines.
The Pan-Cancer Project has made available a comprehensive resource for cancer genomics research, including the raw genome sequencing data, software for cancer genome analysis, and multiple interactive websites exploring various aspects of the Pan-Cancer Project data.
The Pan-Cancer Project extended and advanced methods for analyzing cancer genomes which included cloud computing, and by applying these methods to its large dataset, discovered new knowledge about cancer biology and confirmed important findings of previous studies. In 23 papers published today in Nature and its affiliated journals, the Pan-Cancer Project reports that:
- The cancer genome is finite and knowable, but enormously complicated. By combining sequencing of the whole cancer genome with a suite of analysis tools, we can characterize every genetic change found in a cancer, all the processes that have generated those mutations, and even the order of key events during a cancer’s life history.
- Researchers are close to cataloguing all of the biological pathways involved in cancer and having a fuller picture of their actions in the genome. At least one causal mutation was found in virtually all of the cancers analyzed and the processes that generate mutations were found to be hugely diverse — from changes in single DNA letters to the reorganization of whole chromosomes. Multiple novel regions of the genome controlling how genes switch on and off were identified as targets of cancer-causing mutations.
- Through a new method of “carbon dating,” Pan-Cancer researchers discovered that it is possible to identify mutations which occurred years, sometimes even decades, before the tumour appears. This opens, theoretically, a window of opportunity for early cancer detection.
- Tumour types can be identified accurately according to the patterns of genetic changes seen throughout the genome, potentially aiding the diagnosis of a patient’s cancer where conventional clinical tests could not identify its type. Knowledge of the exact tumour type could also help tailor treatments.
“The incredible work of the Pan-Cancer Project team that was unveiled today is the culmination of a remarkable international collaboration that has enriched our understanding and provided new ways to approach the prevention, diagnosis and treatment of cancer,” said The Honourable Ross Romano, Ontario’s Minister of Colleges and Universities. “I congratulate the entire research group on this ground-breaking achievement in cancer research. Ontarians can be proud of the leading role OICR played in this initiative.”
“The findings we have shared with the world today are the culmination of an unparalleled, decade-long collaboration that explored the entire cancer genome,” says Dr. Lincoln Stein, member of the Project steering committee and Head of Adaptive Oncology at the Ontario Institute for Cancer Research (OICR). “With the knowledge we have gained about the origins and evolution of tumours, we can develop new tools to detect cancer earlier, develop more targeted therapies and treat patients more successfully.”
“The Pan-Cancer Project has generated a much-needed deeper understanding of the biology of cancer and how the elusive and untapped “dark matter” in the human genome drives cancer,” says Dr. Laszlo Radvanyi, OICR’s President and Scientific Director. “These discoveries can lead to totally new area of targets for cancer therapy. It is gratifying to know that OICR helped to lead the international effort, while also integrating a collaborative network of Ontario researchers to play a leading role in this global project. It is a further indication of the value of our strategic investments into data infrastructure, research and informatics expertise, as well as the value the Ontario government continues to create in supporting OICR. I congratulate Dr. Stein, his team and all Pan-Cancer researchers on this landmark achievement.”
-30-
More information
Nature landing page – https://www.nature.com/collections/pcawg/
ICGC – International Cancer Genome Consortium (https://icgc.org/)
TCGA – The Cancer Genome Atlas (https://www.cancer.gov/about-nci/organization/ccg/research/structural-genomics/tcga)
PCAWG – PanCancer Analysis of Whole Genomes (dcc.icgc.org/pcawg)
UCSC – University of California Santa Cruz (pcawg.xenahubs.net)
Expression Atlas (www.ebi.ac.uk/gxa/home)
PCAWG-Scout (pcawgscout.bsc.es)
Chromothripsis Explorer (compbio.med.harvard.edu/chromothripsis)
COSMIC – Catalogue of Somatic Mutations in Cancer (https://cancer.sanger.ac.uk/cosmic)
About the Ontario Institute for Cancer Research
OICR is a collaborative, not-for-profit research institute funded by the Government of Ontario. We conduct and enable high-impact translational cancer research to accelerate the development of discoveries for patients around the world while maximizing the economic benefit of this research for the people of Ontario. For more information visit www.oicr.on.ca.
Media contact
Hal Costie
Ontario Institute for Cancer Research
647-260-7921
hal.costie@oicr.on.ca
Related links
- New clues to cancer in the genome’s other 99 per cent
- AI algorithm classifies cancer types better than experts
- Whole-genome analysis generates new insights into viruses involved in cancer
- Dr. Lincoln Stein talks about the Pan-Cancer Project
- Finding the roots of cancer, ‘It’s a needle in a haystack’
- Unraveling the story behind the cancers we can’t explain
- TrackSig: Unlocking the history of cancer
- Discovering cancer’s vulnerabilities: The whole may be greater than the sum of its parts
- New tumour-driving mutations discovered in the under-explored regions of the cancer genome