Slide 3

Enter CGAP: NCI's Program To Study Molecular Changes in Cancer

Scientists know that cancer arises when a cell undergoes several molecular changes. These changes take place over many years, and only when the cell has accumulated a critical number of these changes does it become a "cancer" cell.

In 1996, the Cancer Genome Anatomy Project (CGAP) began. This program of the National Cancer Institute (NCI) is studying the molecular changes that occur when a normal cell is transformed into a cancer cell.