In the constant pursuit to learn everything about human genetics, scientists have discovered that there are genetic links to some aggressive cancers, which they believe will eventually lead to new treatments.

In two reports released on Wednesday from the journal Nature and the New England Journal of Medicine, the aggressive cancers acute myeloid leukemia and endometrial cancer - a cancer of the uterine lining - were found to have different sets of genetic mutations, or subtypes, that cause cancer in patients, The LA Times reported.

The findings, which were both part of the larger program called the "Cancer Genome Atlas Project" undertaken by the National Institutes of Health, contest the typical approach of classifying tumors based on the body part in which they are first observed, adding more proof that tumors should be differentiated based on their subtypes, the AFP reported.

By focusing on the subtypes instead, physicians hope to one day choose the most effective treatments for each individual patient.

"Developing therapies for each subtype independent of the other may improve outcomes," Elaine Mardis, co-director of the Genome Institute at the Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, Mo., said in a statement.

Mardis worked on the report on endometrial cancer - published in the journal Nature - which found four new cancer subtypes in 373 patients, each with their own forms of genetic mutation, as well as similarities between endometrial cancers and breast and ovarian cancers.

The study from New England Journal of Medicine, which looked at acute myeloid leukemia found that each cancer had mutations in only 13 genes, a much smaller number than many others, but that more than 1,800 genes mutated within the 200 patients at least once, signifying that there were many genetic routes leading to this form of leukemia, the LA Times reported.

Endometrial cancer is diagnosed in about 50,000 people each year and kills more than 8,000. Acute myeloid leukemia is diagnosed in more than 14,000 people and more than 10,000 people die from it each year.