New approach subtypes cancers by shared genetic effects

Cancer tumors almost never share the exact same genetic mutations, a fact that has confounded scientific efforts to better categorize cancer types and develop more targeted, effective treatments. In a recently published paper, researchers at the University of California, San Diego propose a new approach called network-based stratification, which identifies cancer subtypes not by the singular mutations of individual patients, but by how those mutations affect shared genetic networks or systems. Read more here.

Study mentioned: Hofree M, et al. Network-based stratification of tumor mutations. Nat Methods. 2013 Sep 15. [Epub ahead of print] PMID: 24037242