Tata Memorial, IIT-Bombay tie up for new cancer diagnostics

MUMBAI: The Indian Institute of Technology-Bombay (IIT-B) and Tata Memorial Centre (TMC), the city's two premier scientific hubs, will conduct joint research in the new sphere of proteogenomics to identify cancer mechanisms and effective treatment modalities.

The joint research will initially focus on breast, cervical and gastrointestinal cancers.

Proteogenomics is the combination of the advanced fields of genomics (the study of genes and DNAs) and proteomics ( the study of proteins that make up genes).

"Every cancer cell has lakhs of proteins . Each tumour thus has a signature protein expression," said Dr Sudeep Gupta of Tata Memorial Hospital, the leading cancer hospital in Parel. Theoretically, mapping the changes caused by cancer in protein chains and genes could help develop new treatment modalities and medicines. The tie-up is a step in this direction.

India records 10 lakh new cancer cases every day, with over seven lakh patients dying every year. The country also has peculiar patterns; for instance, India has maximum number of head and neck and cervical cancer cases. "Hence, we will first jointly study cancers of the breast, head and neck, gastrointestinal passage and cervix," he said, adding that this would be pioneering work in India.

Incidentally, research in genomics and proteomics have been separate spheres across the world. Now, the US National Cancer Institute has initiated a movement called the International Cancer Proteogenome Consortium to integrate the advances in both these fields. Scientists at Tata Centre, which functions under the department of atomic energy, have been working on genomics and DNA for some time now, IIT-B has been working in proteomics. "Our parternship with IIT-B is a part of this worldwide effort," added Dr Gupta. tnn