Genetic analysis reveals new pathway for cancer drug discovery

Scientists from the University of California, San Diego School of Medicine have found a new approach to genetic analysis that could aid the development of new anti-cancer therapies.

The team has highlighted the benefits of tracking the genetic pathway of a disease against a large set of internal controls, rather than simply one specific phenotype or any particular molecular or cellular target.

This high-throughput process will allow researchers to understand far more about how diseases actually work rather than simply developing therapies that emphasise final outcomes, as has been the case historically.

Using this technique, the team has already been able to discover that the congestive heart failure drug Digoxin could offer benefits against prostate cancer.

Dr Xiang-Dong Fu, professor of cellular and molecular medicine and senior author on the paper, said: "High-throughput genetic sequencing and screening allows you to look deeply into cells … The technology is constantly improving and getting cheaper. We think it's a promising strategy for drug discovery."

Earlier this month, Cancer Research UK published a groundbreaking new cancer study showing that the genetic material of tumours can differ depending on which part of the growth cell samples are taken from.