New Discoveries for Cancer Risk: Researchers Worldwide Take Part in one of History's Largest Scientific Consortium

Montreal (ots/PRNewswire) -

Hundreds of researchers from North America, Europe, Australia and
Asia have joined together in a consortium to identify the genetic
basis of the five most common forms of cancer - breast, prostate,
lung, ovarian and colorectal. The group, called the OncoArray
Consortium, developed a new customized genotyping tool - the
OncoArray - manufactured by the U.S. genomics firm Illumina, Inc.

"The U.S. National Cancer Institute (NCI)-funded Genetic
Associations and Mechanisms of Oncology (GAME-ON) initiative has been
instrumental in bringing together multiple consortia and provides
primary funding for the OncoArray Consortium. It allowed us to design
a custom array that incorporates some 530,000 markers, which is
planned for genotyping on over 425,000 samples from patients with one
of the five types of cancer and control subjects from around the
world. The sheer size of the sample is unprecedented for a study on
the genetic factors involved in cancer. The OncoArray Consortium's
work will provide insight into the inherited genetic basis of cancer
and help scientists understand the underlying biology of cancer,"
explained Professor Christopher Amos, Head of Dartmouth's Center for
Genomic Medicine, in the US, and the leader of the Lung Cancer
consortium.

This project is a direct extension of the work that has been
achieved in recent years through the Collaborative Oncological
Gene-Environment Study (COGS). "The OncoArray will allow us to
enhance our current understanding of the genetic factors associated
with the risk of multiple cancers," explained Cancer Research UK
funded Professor Douglas Easton of University of Cambridge (United
Kingdom). "We are proud to be involved in this international
initiative, which will significantly accelerate the pace of discovery
and lead to a greater understanding of a disease that affects one in
three people," he continued.

About 200 studies are involved in this project and nearly 50
countries participate in the consortium.

Breast cancer samples will represent more than one-third of the
samples under analysis. "This is the largest number of samples ever
used for research into the genetic basis of breast cancer risk,"
noted Université Laval Professor Jacques Simard, who works at the
Genomics Centre of the CHU de Québec Research Centre, and chair
holder of the Canada Research Chair in Oncogenetics. Québec is at the
forefront of this study, since the results will be used for a
Québec-based project aiming to improve the early detection of breast
cancer, an initiative funded by Génome Québec, Genome Canada, the
CIHR and the Québec Breast Cancer Foundation. "The work of Professor
Jacques Simard will broaden our current understanding of this
terrible disease, leading to better risk stratification tools that
will increase our ability to deliver better-targeted screening
services to those women at higher risk," said Marc LePage, President
and CEO of Génome Québec.

Leading efforts in prostate cancer are Brian Henderson and Ros
Eeles. "The OncoArray will provide fresh clues to the origin of these
cancers and will hasten novel approaches to prevention and
treatment," Dr. Henderson said. "Every year 220,000 men in the US are
diagnosed with prostate cancer, and there are 30,000 deaths. This
indicates many people are being treated who don't need it. We hope
this product will help us focus on the men who have the highest risk
to the more fatal forms of this disease."

"This new research consortium will give us a fantastic opportunity
to look at huge numbers of gene variants in prostate cancer patients
across the world, helping expand our knowledge of the genetic basis
of this disease," said Ros Eeles, Professor of Oncogenetics at The
Institute of Cancer Research, London, which along with the University
of Cambridge.

Leading efforts in colorectal cancer is Kenneth T. Norris Jr.
Chair in Cancer Prevention, Keck Medicine of USC, and Stephen Gruber,
director, USC Norris Comprehensive Cancer Center, Keck Medicine of
USC. Leading efforts in breast cancer on behalf of the US NCI are
David J. Hunter, Dean for Academic Affairs, Harvard School of Public
Health; for ovarian cancer the US NCI leader is Tom Sellers, Director
of the Moffit Cancer Center in Florida. In addition, the Consortium
of Investigators of Modifiers of BRCA1/2, led by Georgia
Chenevix-Trench, will genotype the OncoArray on about 30,000 women
and men who carry mutations in the BRCA1 or BRCA2 genes.

The project is funded through major grants from the U.S. National
Cancer Institute to the GAME-ON initiative and the Division of Cancer
Epidemiology and Genetics; Genome Canada/Génome Québec/CIHR/Québec
Breast Cancer Foundation through the Personalized Risk Stratification
for Prevention and Early Detection of Breast Cancer; Cancer Research
UK (Cambridge University and The Institute of Cancer Research);
Movember and Prostate Cancer UK (The Institute of Cancer Research)
and EU's FP7 grant program (COGS), together with many other partners.

About OncoArray Consortium Visit the Website [https://morgan.dart
mouth.edu/Docs/OncoArray_Consortium_Overview_09-04-2013-3.docx ]

About Cancer Research UK Visit the Website
[http://www.cancerresearchuk.org/home ]

About COGS Visit the Website [http://www.cogseu.org ]

About Harvard School of Public Health Visit the Website
[http://www.hsph.harvard.edu ]

About Keck Medicine of USC Visit the Website
[http://www.keckmedicine.org ]

About National Cancer Institute (USA) Visit the Web site
[http://www.cancer.gov ]

About Université Laval Visit the Website
[http://www2.ulaval.ca/en/home.html ]

About Génome Québec Visit the Website
[http://www.genomequebec.com/en/home.html ]

About CHU de Québec Visit the Website [http://www2.chudequebec.ca
]

About Dartmouth's Center for Genomic Medicine Visit the Website [
http://med.dartmouth-hitchcock.org/education/genomic_medicine_grand_r
ounds.html ]

About Institute of Cancer Research LondonUK Visit the Website
[http://www.icr.ac.uk. ]

Moffit Cancer Center in Florida Visit the Website
[http://www.moffitt.org ]

About Queensland institute of Medical Research Visit the Website
[http://www.qimr.edu.au ]

About University of Cambridge Visit the Website
[http://www.cam.ac.uk ]

For further information:

Éva Kammer
Director, Communications
Génome Québec
+1-514-398-0668, ext. 206
ekammer@genomequebec.com

ots Originaltext: Génome Québec
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