On July 7, 2021, the National Institute of Biomedical Genomics (NIBMG) located in Kalyani, West Bengal has created a world’s first of its kind browsable online database namely ‘dbGENVOC- database of GENomic Variants of Oral Cancer’. This database is a repository that can be accessed by the public at free of cost.
- It will be updated annually with variation data from new oral cancer patients from different regions of India and Southeast Asia.
- NIBMG is funded by the Department of Biotechnology.
Features of dbGENVOC:
i.It has a built-in powerful search engine.
ii.It allows carrying out statistical and bioinformatic online analysis including identifying variants in associated altered pathways in oral cancer.
What is in the database?
i.Presently, it contains information on ∼24 million clinically relevant somatic and germline variants.
ii.It also has somatic variation data from 220 patient samples drawn from the USA (United States of America) and analyzed by the TCGA-HNSCC (The Cancer Genome Atlas Head-Neck Squamous Cell Carcinoma) project.
iii.There is manually curated variation data of 118 patients from recently published peer-reviewed publications.
Reasons of oral cancer:
The key reason is tobacco-chewing which causes changes in the genetic material of cells in the oral cavity. These mutations precipitate oral cancer.
Recent Related News:
Union Minister of Health and Family Welfare Dr Harsh Vardhan stated that the Government has operationalized around 75, 532 Ayushman Bharat-Health and Wellness Centre (AB-HWCs) across India since 2018. AB-HWCs screen individuals for Non-Communicable Diseases (NCDs) like Hypertension & Diabetes, it also conducts screening of three common cancers – oral cancer, breast cancer & cervical cancer.
About Department of Biotechnology (DBT)
Parent Ministry– Ministry of Science and Technology
Secretary– Renu Swarup
