Tuesday, January 31, 2012

Stomach Cancer Tumors Have Genetic Differences: Researchers

(HealthDay News) -- Stomach cancer tumors have genetic differences, which determine how they respond to treatment, researchers have found.

In identifying two distinct versions of the disease, scientists found that a certain regimen of chemotherapy is more effective on one tumor type, while another drug works best on the other. The study authors said their findings would help doctors more effectively treat gastric cancer patients.

"Our study is the first to show that a proposed molecular classification of gastric cancer can identify genomic subtypes that respond differently to therapies, which is crucial in efforts to customize treatments for patients," study senior author Dr. Patrick Tan, associate professor in the Cancer and Stem Cell Biology Program at the Duke-National University of Singapore (NUS) Graduate Medical School, said in a university news release.

A microscopic pathology test developed in the 1960s, known as the Lauren classification, is a general description (either intestinal or diffuse) of how well the tumor cells clump together. The Singapore-based team at the Duke-NUS Graduate Medical School, however, was able to distinguish gastric cancer tumors where the Lauren test could not. Read more...

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