The discovery of the “6th base”, 5-hydroxymethylated cytosine, has resulted in rapid fire publication activity.  Researchers are exploring it’s part in demethylation dynamics, and its epigenetic function. Today I wanted to highlight the paper, H. Yang, et al. Tumor development is associated with decrease of TET gene expression and 5-methylcytosine hydroxylation (March 2012) Oncogene 1-7. It provides further detailed analysis that is complementary to the work described by Hafner et al., please see my Q&A with Dr. Yegnasubramanian. The Oncogene paper research group, mainly out of Fudan University, looked at additional tissue types using an anti-5-hmC antibody for immunolocalization in paraffin embedded samples. They sampled human breast, prostate, liver, lung and pancreas, comparing them with corresponding matched normal surrounding tissues. … Continue reading →