Chennai: For the first time in India, IIT-Madras on Monday launched a Cancer Genome Database -- ‘Bharat Cancer Genome Atlas’ (BCGA) -- to transform cancer research in the country.
Noting that Cancer is one of the most fatal health problems globally, IIT-Madras said a recent Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) report indicated that number of people living with this deadly disease continues to rise.
The National Cancer Registry Program 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% 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.
In order to fill the gap in genomic landscape for different cancers in India, IIT Madras initiated the cancer genome program in 2020.
Under this program, the 960 whole exome sequencing from 480 breast cancer patient tissue samples collected across the country has been completed.
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 anonymized summary of genetic variants from Indian breast cancer samples.
This assumes significance in the wake of World Cancer Day to be observed on Tuesday.
Prof. V. Kamakoti, Director, IIT Madras, announced the completion of the Indian breast cancer genome sequence generation and released the ‘Bharat Cancer Genome Atlas’ (BCGA) before the media on the campus today.
The institute has made this database publicly accessible to researchers and clinicians in India and abroad.