周一NCI在一份聲明中稱，基于基因組學研究的新數(shù)據(jù)庫，將對全球開放獲取，預計將有助于研究人員加快新藥的開發(fā)，同時能夠更好地將患者與療法進行匹配。
當前所使用的大多數(shù)抗癌藥物，都是基于其實證作用（empirical activity）。其中的大多數(shù)藥物，我們知道存在作用靶標，但這些藥物并沒有與任何基因組學聯(lián)系起來。
大多數(shù)的癌癥治療涉及很多的猜測工作，因為醫(yī)生也沒有辦法確定某一特定患者是否有可能對當前許多常用藥物或化療有響應，抑或其癌癥是否會對所用藥物產(chǎn)生抗性。
為了創(chuàng)建數(shù)據(jù)庫，NCI研究團隊對60株人類癌細胞系進行了測序，得到了一張針對身體不同部位癌癥特異性基因突變的詳盡列表。
該項研究的成果已發(fā)表于美國癌癥研究協(xié)會期刊《癌癥研究》（Cancer Research）。
研究人員現(xiàn)在可以對數(shù)據(jù)庫進行挖掘，比如確定化療藥物順鉑（Cisplatin）是否與特定的基因突變有關聯(lián)。而目前已知，僅有約一半的女性卵巢癌對順鉑有反應，制藥公司則可能不會受到很大的激勵，來確定是否一種現(xiàn)有的癌癥藥物應該僅應用于某一亞組（subset）患者群體。
近年來，許多獲批的抗癌藥物均為靶向治療藥物，這些藥物旨在阻斷癌細胞用于生長和增殖的特定通路。在給藥前，對患者進行特定基因突變的篩查，可能能夠使某些患者獲得最大的治療益處。
例如，由羅氏（Roche）銷售的一款黑色素瘤藥物Zelboraf，旨在靶向一種特定的基因突變，該突變存在于大約一半的黑色素瘤中。輝瑞（Pfizer）的抗癌藥物Xalkori，則靶向于ALK基因中的一種突變，該藥僅對約4%的肺癌患者有效。
英文原文：Largest cancer gene database made public
Mon Jul 15, 2013 7:22pm EDT National Cancer Institute scientists have released the largest-ever database of cancer-related genetic variations, providing researchers the most comprehensive way so far to figure out how to target treatments for the disease.
Open access worldwide to the new database, based on genome studies, is expected to help researchers accelerate development of new drugs and better match patients with therapies, NCI said in a statement on Monday.
"Most anti-cancer drugs that are used today are used based on their empirical activity," Dr. Yves Pommier, chief of the NCI's Laboratory of Molecular Pharmacology, said in an interview. "For most of them, we know there is a target, but they have not been connected with any genomics."
Most cancer treatments involve a lot of guess work because doctors have no way to determine how a particular patient is likely to respond to many commonly used drugs or chemotherapy, or which cancers will develop resistance.
To create the database, the NCI team sequenced 60 human cancer cell lines, generating an extensive list of cancer-specific variations for different parts of the body.
The results were published in Cancer Research, a journal of the American Association for Cancer Research.
Researchers could mine the data, for instance, to determine whether the chemotherapy drug Cisplatin is associated with specific genetic mutations, Pommier said.
"Only about half of women with ovarian cancer respond to it," he said, noting that pharmaceutical companies would have little incentive to determine if an existing cancer drug should only be used in a subset of patients.
Many recently approved cancer drugs are targeted treatments, designed to block specific pathways that cancer cells use to grow and reproduce. Before the drugs are administered, patients are tested for the specific genetic mutations that would make the drug more likely to be beneficial to them.
Melanoma drug Zelboraf, sold by Roche Holding AG, is designed to work by targeting a specific genetic mutation found in about half of all melanomas. Pfizer Inc's cancer drug Xalkori, which targets a mutation in the ALK gene, works in about 4 percent of lung cancer patients.
