Genetics and cancer
May 8, 2012
A NEW study, funded by the
Cancer Council is set to recruit 800
brain cancer patients and 800
healthy family members from
across the nation in a bid to
discover the combination of
lifestyle and genetic factors that
cause brain cancer.
The study will be one of the
largest ever epidemiological studies
of glioma (the most common type
of primary brain tumour in adults
that accounts for 80 per cent of
brain cancers) and will be led by
Associate Professor Gianluca Severi.
As part of the study, the research
team will collect blood samples and
information on lifestyle and family
history to help identify what
increases the risk of getting glioma
and whether a particular lifestyle
choice or genetic mutation is
responsible.
“Glioma is aggressive and causes
enormous grief, yet we can’t do
much at the moment to help
patients and their families,” said
Severi.
“By storing the DNA of glioma
patients, the project will also create
a resource that can be used by
other researchers across Australia,”
he added.
Meanwhile, the Cancer Council
has also dished out funds to Aussie
researchers: Dr Megan Hitchins, Dr
Geraldine O’Neill, and Dr Kerrie
McDonald, to help further their
brain cancer studies.
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