Washington, January 26: Researchers announced a new project on Monday to sequence all the genes in childhood tumours to try to discover previously unknown causes of cancer.
They also hope they can use the research to help tailor treatments for children, to spare them radiation and chemotherapy that may do them little good.
The collaboration between St Jude Children’s Research Hospital in Memphis and Washington University School of Medicine in St Louis parallels a similar project funded by the US government to sequence all the genes in 20 common adult cancers.
The project focusing on children uses mostly private donations, said Dr Larry Shapiro, dean of Washington University School of Medicine.
“Our belief and our expectation is that paediatric cancer is going to have different genetic alterations than adult cancers,” Shapiro said in a telephone interview.
—Agencies