Washington University researchers have decoded the complete DNA of a patient suffering from Leukemia, and traced the genetic origins of her cancer.

The team has discovered ten gene mutations which played a key role in the development of the horrible disease. Only two of these had been tied to the horrible disease before.

Two samples of skin have been taken from the ailing woman of 50 (who unfortunately succumbed to the disease later on – one from healthy skin cells, and others from cancerous bone marrow.

Their findings were that virtually every cell from the tumor cells had nine of the ten key mutations.

Acute myeloid leukemia (AML), which is a cancer of the bone marrow cells which form Leukocytes (red blood cells), comes from mutations which accumulate in the DNA of a person throughout their life, each subsequent mutation being a step closer to the cell’s malignancy.

Unfortunately not much is known about the nature of these changes, and how each of them disrupts biological pathways and ultimately causes the uncontrolled cell-growth which defines cancer.

In the past scientists have tried to look at common points of DNA variation which may be relevant to disease risk in order to decode malignant genomes. The Washington team however has used a gene sequencing system through which they were able to search through three billion pairs of chemical bases making up the human genome and identify mutations which contributed to the cancer.

To underline the importance of this study, Geneticist Dr. Francis Collins, who is a former director of the U.S. National Human Genome Research Institute, and who commented to the press on the study, called it “a true land mark in cancer research.”

''In the past, cancer researchers have been 'looking under the lamp-post' to find the causes of malignancy,'' Collins said, ''but now the team from Washington University has lit up the whole street. This achievement ushers in a new era of comprehensive understanding of the fundamental nature of cancer, and offers great promise for the development of powerful new approaches to diagnosis, prevention and treatment.''

Interestingly enough, three of the newly-discovered mutations occurred in genes which usually suppress tumor growth, while four others were in genes associated with the spread of cancer.

Another apparently affects the transport of drugs into cells, which may explain resistance in some individuals to cancer chemotherapy. Researchers are looking for other mutations which may have a role in the disease.

Tumor samples from another 187 AML patients were examined, but none of them had any of the new mutations.

Lead researchers in the study Dr. Wilson said that ''This suggests that there is a tremendous amount of genetic diversity in cancer, even in this one disease. There are probably many, many ways to mutate a small number of genes to get the same result, and we're only looking at the tip of the iceberg in terms of identifying the combinations of genetic mutations that can lead to AML.''