Analysis of Gastric Adenocarcinoma Data in a Pan-GI Context to Reveal Genes, Pathways, and Interactions that Yield Novel Therapeutic Advantages

The subject of this research is the study of gastric cancer, where the purpose is to reveal new insights into the biology of the disease that could potentially have therapeutic implications. Specifically, the scope of the study is based on 3 broad objectives: (i) identification of dysregulated and susceptible pathways, as well as their novel inter-relationships, in gastric adenocarcinoma (GAC); (ii) Pan-Cancer comparison of GAC with other cancers to leverage therapeutic target information across cancers; (iii) Identification of novel therapeutic targets, both with and without currently known drugs that target them. We have identified novel interactions amongst pathways in stomach and other cancers, where we have identified certain sub-groups of stomach cancer patients where those pathways may be exceptionally abnormal and lead to worse survival. The interactions and corresponding sets of genes may be targetable by existing drugs and/or drugs under development for treatment of that subgroup of stomach cancer patients. Other sub-groups have other interactions and genes that may also be targeted using different drugs. In that way, we can potentially give customized regimens of drugs to specific patients whose cancers exhibit targetable characteristics.