EIGHT genes have been found that may play a role in a particularly deadly form of leukaemia. The discovery comes thanks to a rise in the speed of whole-genome sequencing, and a drop in its cost. An avalanche of genes responsible for other diseases may follow.
Until now, researchers looking for cancer genes have adopted a “usual suspects” approach – guessing at likely candidates and sequencing them to see if they differ in tumours and normal tissue. This has not worked well for acute myeloid leukaemia (AML), but a team led by at Washington University in St Louis,…
