IIT Madras unveils Bharat Cancer Genome Atlas to advance research and personalized treatment

The Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Madras on Monday launched Bharat cancer genome atlas to boost research and personalise treatment against the deadly disease both in India and worldwide.  

The Cancer Genome Programme was launched by IIT Madras in 2020. As part of this initiative, whole exome sequencing has been completed on 960 samples from 480 breast cancer patients, with tissue samples collected from across the country.

The institute has made this database publicly accessible at bcga.iitm.ac.in to researchers and clinicians in India and abroad. “We hope that this cancer–related data will provide deep insights on reasons leading to this deadly disease and help preventing the same with early interventions. The Atlas fills the gap in genomic landscape from different cancers in the country,” said Prof. V. Kamakoti, Director, IIT Madras.

Prof. Kamakoti also announced the completion of the Indian breast cancer genome sequence generation.

“It provides a compendium of genetic variants representing the contemporary Indian breast cancer population to classify variants involved in early diagnostics, disease progression, and treatment outcomes,” he added.

IIT Madras in collaboration with Karkinos Healthcare, Mumbai, the Chennai Breast Clinic and Cancer Research and Relief Trust, Chennai analysed the data and assembled the anonymised summary of genetic variants from Indian breast cancer samples.

Cancer is one of the most fatal health problems globally and in India and recent study by the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) report indicated that number of people living with this deadly disease continues to rise.

The National Cancer Registry Programme reported that one in nine people in India are likely to develop cancer in their lifetime and 14,61,427 people were currently living with cancer.

There is a 12.8 per cent increase in cancer incidence every year since 2022. Despite having a high cancer incidence, India has been under-represented in global cancer genome studies.

In the absence of genomic architecture of cancers prevalent in India, specific genetic variants from Indian cancers are not adequately captured and catalogued for any diagnostic kits and drug development.

“The new database will be an invaluable resource to identify cancer-specific biomarkers in India, which will enable early detection of breast cancers. Further, it will also be very useful to identify novel drug targets for developing better treatment strategies specific to the Indian population,” said Project Coordinator Prof. S. Mahalingam, Head, Centre of Excellence on Cancer Genomics and Molecular Therapeutics, IIT Madras.

"The data will be utilised towards identifying biomarkers to identify high-risk groups, monitor cancer progression, design strategies for personalised treatment and understand treatment outcomes,” he added.

The Genome Atlas also provides knowledge on the genetic basis of cancer progression and evolution and may help the biomedical research and healthcare system in India shift toward a vision of “personalised medicine” which may improve the standard of medical care by including an individual’s genetic and molecular information in the clinical decision-making process.

(With IANS inputs)