Diagnostic Developments
- PDF / 976,585 Bytes
- 2 Pages / 595.28 x 790.87 pts Page_size
- 89 Downloads / 179 Views
20 NEWS&VlEWS
Diagnostic Developments Sharing microarray data made easier with NCI tool The US National Cancer Institute (NCI) has released a new software tool that will facilitate the sharing and analysis of microarray data by the medical research community. Microarray technology has many applications in cancer research, including identifying novel genes associated with certain cancers, classifying tumors, and predicting patient outcome. The goal is to speed the delivery of innovative approaches for the prevention and treatment of cancer. "This tool provides a way for the cancer research community to very robustly share their data with colleagues around the world," said Dr Ken Buetow, director of the NCI Center for Bioinfonnatics (NCICB). " By making the source code f reely available to the community, we hope to speed the development of novel tools for analyzing and visualizing the data." The open-source, open-access software tool, caArray version 1.0, developed by the NCICB, can be used to create public repositories of microarray data, linking scientists within an institution or around the globe. The tool provides the means for storing, accessing, and exchanging information created through standard platforms. Mechanisms to ensure the controlled and secure sharing of sensitive data arc included . Researchers can download and install the software at http;!/ ncicb.nci.nih.gov/download, provided they adhere to the open source license. Researchers can submit data at http:// caarraydb.nci .nih.gov.
Conversion analysis a more sensitive
mutation detection method than DNA sequencing
A multinational research team has identified a genetic test that, when used with DNA testing, would detect a higher number of genetic mutations in colorectal cancer patients. 111 Hereditary non polyposis colorectal cancer (HNPcq has historically been diagnosed based on family history. Approximately 70% of HNPCC cases can be accounted for by mutations in anyone of several genes involved in DNA mismatch repair (a mechanism that corrects errors made during DNA replication).ll1 Identification of a mutation may prompt genetic counseling, screening, and surveillance of relatives to reduce illness and risk of death. It has been proposed that screening of all patients with
colorectal cancer for mismatch repair gene mutations may be both feasible and desirable. "The accurate identification and interpretation of mismatch repair mlllalion carriers is essential for clinical management of colorectal cancer palients and for scientific studies in which the mldation status of participants is an importanr variable," according to the researchers. "Currently. most genetic testing is peiformed by genomic DNA sequence analysis, bur certain classes of gene mutations are not detected using rhis approach." There is evidence that large genomic mutations may account for a substantial proportion of colorectal cancer cases. Recent studies have suggested that conversion analysis, in which human chromosomes are separated in hybrids prior to mutation screening, represe
Data Loading...
