More About Cancer Genomic Research Program
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The distribution of these common malignancies has significantly risen over the past thirty years in the Kingdom despite advances in medical technology and treatment. A number of factors can be attributed to this increasing trend. First, modern diagnostic tools and better screening practices adopted by physicians such as analysis of chromosomal abnormalities using advanced cytogenetic tools (CGH arrays, chromosomal banding etc.), immunophenotyping using multi-colour flow-cytometry with specific markers, and others like nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) and mass spectrometry make these amenable for the early detection of a malignancy/abnormality.
Second, the prevalence of unidentified risk factors, which could be demographic-specific for cancer in concurrence with advanced screening techniques may in turn, be important contributing factors in the detection of new cancers. Third, globalization with vast amount of knowledge transfer has led in general, to an increase in the awareness of the need to seek early and routine medical check-up.This is particularly true in Saudi Arabia, where the percentage of female cancer patients has dramatically increased over the past decades (from 27% in 1975 to 50% in 1995, and to 54% in 2005 as per Cancer Registry Report), which is a trend that could be attributed to increased awareness among women to seek routine clinical examinations. However, despite intensive cancer research in the Western countries that has led to significant improvement in the clinical management of the cancer patients, cancer research has been minimal in the Kingdom pointing thus to the need for focused cancer research that may be applicable for the patients visiting Saudi hospitals.
The Cancer Group Research Program (CGRP) is setup to tackle the most common cancers affecting the Saudi population. The CGRP covers research into breast cancer, colon cancer, leukemia and thyroid cancer. The work includes systematic and comprehensive elucidation of the most common types of cancer
in terms of DNA alterations, RNA profiles, proteomic signatures and functional responses. Scientists in the CGRP will share ideas and launch collaborative projects to tackle key challenges. The unifying theme of all these sub-programs is to establish a knowledge base and a sample repository resource that can be the launching pad of more hypothesis-driven and translational research. |
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