Understanding driver mutations in breast cancer

Researchers have described nine new genes that drive the development of breast cancer taking the tally of all genes associated with breast cancer development to 40.
In the study* the team examined all the genes in the genomes of 100 cases of breast cancer. The mutated cancer-causing genes were different in different cancer samples, indicating that breast cancer is genetically very diverse. Understanding the consequences of this diversity will be important in progressing towards more rational treatment.
“Breast cancer is the most common cancer in women,” explains Dr Patrick Tarpey, first author from the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute. “To identify new cancer genes that lead to the development of breast cancer, we searched for driver mutations in over 21,000 genes and found evidence for nine new cancer genes involved in the development of this cancer.”
“In 28 cases we found only a single driver, but the maximum number of driver mutations in an individual cancer was six,” says Professor Mike Stratton, lead author and Director of the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute. “We found that breast cancer can be caused by more than 70 different combinations of mutations.
“The picture is certainly more complicated than we would have wanted, but as with many other things knowledge is our strongest weapon. These comprehensive insights reveal the faulty wiring of the cellular circuit board that causes cells to behave as cancers. Understanding our enemy at this level of detail will allow us to take more rational approaches to therapy, to understand why some cancers respond to drugs and others do not, and direct us to new vulnerabilities to be exploited in new treatments,” adds Professor Stratton.
Stephens and Tarpey et al ‘The landscape of cancer genes and mutational processes in breast cancer’
Nature website 16 May DOI: 10.1038/nature11017