Will Cancer Genome Breakthroughs Lead to Lower Health Costs?

Scientists at Washington University in St. Louis have completely decoded the genes of a cancer sufferer and discovered several mutations that may have caused the development of the fatal disease.

The results, published in the journal, Nature, stated that cells which were donated by a woman in her 50s – who subsequently died of leukemia – were studied by the researchers in order to help map the characteristics of the specific DNA of the cancer sufferer.

Because of several mutations found in the woman’s cancerous cells, they were incapable of responding to the chemotherapy treatments. By carefully mapping the DNA of the cancerous cells, the scientists were able to get a look at the way that cancerous cells develop resistance to certain types of chemotherapy treatments. In this way, researchers will one day be able to more strategically pinpoint the treatment of not only leukemia but other cancer cells as well.

A Revolutionary Step in Cancer Research

This recent project is the first time that a person’s entire DNA has been completely sequenced, opening the door to further research on other types of cancer treatments, and it should provide valuable insight into improving the health care of this country during unprecedented changes in the health insurance system.  

"In 2008, approximately 684,850 new cases of cancer were diagnosed in people under the age of 65 in the United States," according to a report from the Kaiser Family Foundation; and the National Institutes of Health estimated that $89 billion was spent treating cancer in 2007. Even with guaranteed issue health insurance for cancer, many patients can't afford to provide themselves with care. The Kaiser Family Foundation found that 5% of breast cancer patients, for example, had to pay out-of-pocket costs that exceeded $31,264.

Richard K. Wilson, the director of the university’s Genome Sequencing Center and the lead scientist on the project, hopes that in twenty years or less, scientific and medical advances will have progressed to the point where a single drop of blood can be computer analyzed to determine proper treatment of a particular cancer. Wilson feels this technology is just over the horizon and will allow scientists, researchers and medical personnel to better pinpoint the causes and best treatments for many types of cancer.

Further Research

• http://health.usnews.com/articles/health/healthday/2009/02/05/cancer-patients-often-stranded-in-health.html
• http://www.kff.org/insurance/upload/7851.pdf