Catalan researchers discover cancer's 'black box': "We'll be able to treat it years in advance."

BarcelonaThe vast majority of cancers develop silently over years, leaving recognizable traces along the way. Now, Catalan researchers have discovered that all these changes are recorded in our epigenome, a compilation of all the modifications our genes receive from the environment. It's a kind of airplane's black box, recording flight data such as origin, direction, and speed. In the case of our body, it contains information on the chemical changes our cells undergo. According to this study led by scientists from the Clínic-Idibaps in Barcelona and the Institute of Cancer Research in London, it also contains...

With this information, researchers have developed a pioneering method to analyze the traces left by cancer from its origin and also to predict its progression. "This new tool allows us to read the past history of cancer and know when the tumor originated, how quickly it has grown, and whether the tumor has created cellular diversity," highlights Iñaki Martín-Subero, the study's coordinator and head of the Biomedical Epigenomics group at Idibaps. Thus, in this study – published in the journal Nature–have developed a method to decipher the origin and evolution of the disease.

To develop this method, the researchers first discovered that, in fact, the evolutionary trajectory of cancer leaves special marks on the black box (the epigenome), and which could be identified. Specifically, the original cell that gives rise to the tumor leaves a unique signature that reveals the identity of the tumor cells and changes as the tumor grows and diversifies. Using this information and advanced mathematical models, they were able to reconstruct both the origin and evolution of the tumor with "unprecedented precision," which also makes it possible to predict the future progression of the disease, according to the researchers.

Test the algorithm

To demonstrate this, the researchers pursued the hypothesis that understanding a cancer's history allows one to predict its clinical future and applied their algorithm to 2,000 samples from patients with different types of leukemia and lymphoma. Thanks to access to anonymized medical records, the researchers were able to correlate the tumor's past evolution with its aggressiveness. Therefore, Martín-Subero argues that the study "is not only important for better understanding cancer biology, but also has clinical applications." For his part, Trevor Graham, director of the Center for Evolution and Cancer at the Institute of Cancer Research in London, also believes that "predicting how the disease will progress in each patient is a major step in personalized treatment."

For example, in the case of chronic lymphocytic leukemia, a type of cancer that does not always require immediate treatment, with this new test, researchers have been able to "predict when the disease will need to be treated years in advance," concludes Martín-Subero. The study was made possible thanks to the support of the Spanish Association Against Cancer (AECC), Cancer Research UK, the La Caixa Foundation, the European Research Council (ERC), and the United States National Institutes of Health.