Two years ago this month, U.S. Vice President Al Gore publically launched the National Cancer Institute's Tumor Gene Index program at a crowded White House ceremony. With cameras rolling, Gore explained that the new NCI initiative would compile a complete record of genes involved in tumor development, a first step in defining tumors based on their own unique molecular features. As he concluded his remarks that day, Gore threw his support behind the program by saying this is "an age of possibility."
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Strausberg said TGI has catalogued over 66,400 genes in its first 2 years, both new and previously identified genes. In total, over 40,500 genes are active, directly or indirectly, in one or more cancers. Some of the 44 tissues that have been studied to date include:
"The Tumor Gene Index is still far from complete," said Richard Klausner, M.D., NCI director. "But already, it is difficult to think of another project that in such a short period of time has generated so much useful, publicly available data to benefit cancer research and ultimately people with cancer."
TGI is the first in a series of initiatives under NCI's Cancer Genome Anatomy Project a program to develop publicly available databases and technologies that assist scientists in deciphering the molecular anatomy of the cancer cell.
"Just as anatomists have defined the human body, CGAP seeks to define for the first time the molecules that are present in cancer cells and make them accessible to scientists," said Strausberg.
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