The scientific and financial resources of ten countries have been pooled to launch the International Cancer Genome Consortium (ICGC) – a joint effort to generate top-quality genomic data on approximately 50 different types of cancer. Experts say the project should take about ten years to complete.

The data that the ICGC gathers will be “rapidly and freely” available to researchers around the globe. Scientists worldwide are being encouraged to take part.

Dr. Elias A. Zerhouni, Director, National Institutes of Health (NIH), said “Cancer’s complexity poses an enormous challenge. NIH is highly encouraged that the worldwide scientific community is joining to meet this challenge, and we are pleased to be a member of this ambitious international endeavor. The consortium’s commitment to making its data rapidly available in public databases will serve to accelerate research into the causes and control of cancer in the United States and throughout the world.”

Every ICGC member aims to carry out a comprehensive, high-resolution analysis of the full range of genomic changes in at least one cancer type/subtype. All members will conform to common standards of data collection and analysis. Each project, costing about $20 million, will involve specimens from 500 patients.

The ICGC will create a list of about 50 cancer types/subtypes that are clinically important worldwide. Specific members will assume responsibility for specific cancers. In order to make sure participants are not duplicating each others’ work, their roles should be to facilitate the exchange of information.

Below is a list of current ICGC members-

— Australia
National Health and Medical Research Council (Observer Status)

— Canada
Genome Canada (Observer Status); Ontario Institute for Cancer Research

— China
Chinese Cancer Genome Consortium

— Europe
European Commission (Observer Status)

— France:
Institut National du Cancer

— India:
Department of Biotechnology, Ministry of Science & Technology

— Japan:
RIKEN; National Cancer Center

— Singapore:
Genome Institute of Singapore

— United Kingdom:
The Wellcome Trust; Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute

— United States:
NIH

Dr. Thomas Hudson, of the ICGC Secretariat, based at the Ontario Institute for Cancer Research, Toronto, said “Clearly, there is an urgent need to reduce cancer’s terrible toll. To help meet that need, the consortium will use new genome analysis technologies to produce comprehensive catalogs of the genetic mutations involved in the world’s major types of cancer. Such catalogs will be valuable resources for all researchers working to develop new and better ways of diagnosing, treating and preventing cancer.”

In 2007 worldwide-

— 7.5 million people died of cancer
— 12 million new cases of cancer were diagnosed

These numbers are expected to go up to 17.5 million deaths and 27 million new cases by 2050 if no progress in understanding and controlling cancer is made.

Cancer was once thought of as a ‘single disease’

Cancer consists of a large number of different conditions. It was once thought of as a single disease. What all cancers do have in common is that they change the genetic blueprint (genomes) of cells and cause disruption within normal biological pathways – this leads to rampant cell growth. Genomic changes are generally specific to a particular type or stage of cancer – by systematically mapping these changes in each cancer, we will eventually gather information leading to the identification of new and effective therapies, diagnostics and preventive measures.

The ICGC’s main criteria for prioritizing cancer types include:

— Impact
including incidence and mortality rates, availability of therapies and age of onset

— Scientific interest

— Feasibility
Including the ability to gather enough high-quality samples to conduct a large-scale project

In order to be able to make comparisons among different cancer types, ICGC guidelines include a list of key factors that members must consider when creating genomic catalogs. These include:

Comprehensiveness
Detecting all cancer-related genetic mutations that occur in at least 3% of tumor samples

Resolution
Generating data at the level of individual DNA bases

Quality
Monitoring based on common standards for pathology and technology

Controls
Comparisons of data from matched, non-tumor tissue

Member countries will agree to common standards for informed consent and ethical oversight. Even though countries have varying requirements, the consortium’s policies state that a cancer patient who is enrolled in an ICGC-related study must be told that his/her participation is voluntary, that his/her clinical care will not be affected by participating, and that data gathered from analyses using their samples will be available to all researchers globally.

The ICGC stresses that it is important to code and store all samples in a way that protects the identity of the study participant.

As soon as data is available, qualified investigators will have access to it.

All entities that accept and follow the ICGC guidelines and policies will have access to its data. You can read about the policies an guidelines in detail at http://www.icgc.org.

Written by – Christian Nordqvist