No challenge in medical research is more daunting than cancer. Despite remarkable progress in treating and curing some forms of cancer, half of all cancer patients have a survival rate of five years or less. This unacceptable situation drives cancer researchers internationally to find new versions of standard treatments, and more important, innovative approaches to the puzzle of cancer. Since 1990, cancer researchers have discovered a new vision of tackling cancer at its source. There are at least 100 human genes that have the potential to cause malignancy.
Cancer starts as a genetic change in one cell.
It then sends out daughter cells with the damage genes, usually through the body's lymph system. Understanding the exact genetic processes at each of these changes is the work of genome sequencing in cancer research. Even when they cannot cure cancer, they extend life and improve the quality of life for many patients. However, eliminating the cancer cell before it spreads through the body, before it grows into a tumour, or even earlier, is the ultimate goal of gene scientists. The first genome sequence centre devoted to cancer research and directed by a Nobel Laureate is the Genome Sequence Centre at the BC Cancer Agency's internationally renowned BC Cancer Research Centre in Vancouver.