A more common mistake
Jin Zhao (left) and Shannon Bailey probe the epigenetics of cells in the laboratory of Myles Brown.
It's no surprise that epigenetic abnormalities underlie a wide range of cancers: patterns of over- or underactive genes are one of the hallmarks of the disease. But only in the past half-dozen or so years has gene-scanning technology become powerful enough to examine broad stretches of cancer cells' DNA to see where acetyl and methyl groups have ratcheted gene activity up or down.
What such technology has revealed is striking. Epigenetic alterations are more common in cancer cells than are genetic mutations – many times more common, in fact. A prominent Japanese researcher has called epigenetic research one of the most important approaches for understanding how cells become and remain cancerous.
There is a silver lining to this seemingly frustrating news, however. "While genetic mutations cannot be reversed, epigenetic changes can be," says Dana-Farber's Myles Brown, MD. "That erasability makes epigenetic tags a tempting target for drug therapies."
Already, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration has approved two medications that block methylation and one that promotes acetylation to treat a precancerous blood disease and a form of lymphoma, respectively. Dozens of similar drugs are undergoing patient testing in clinical trials.
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