Tag Archives: Cancer

New Years Resolution, Reflection on Cancer Research

Posted on January 14, 2013 by Nicole Kelesoglu

The beginning of a new year is a time for reflection. There have been two news items which have struck me in regard to epigenetics and cancer research, recently. Dr. James Watson, Nobel Prize winner, and co-discoverer of the double helix structure of DNA, has published a controversial, open access paper in the journal Open Biology. Cancer research has not produced cures, but merely temporary life extentions for those facing metastatic cancers. The sequencing of the human genome and identification of individual cancer cell mutation drivers of disease, have not produced cures. Dr. Watson points out that once cancer turns metastatic, resistance to gene-targeted drugs is rampant. In the metastatic process, DNA sequence mutations often don’t change. Rather their expression … Continue reading →

Posted in Epigenome, Genetics, History & Trends, Oncology | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

Canada Joins the International Human Epigenome Consortium – Q&A with Tomi Pastinen of Génome Québec

Posted on October 31, 2012 by Chris Womack

In an ambitious project investigating the interplay of environment, disease, and epigenetics, Canada is funneling $41 million into epigenomics research. It’s a multi-pronged effort to scrutinize a variety of tissue samples, disease states, and responses to environmental insults, so I called up Tomi Pastinen, the Canada research chair in human genetics, to learn more about the project. Here’s a lightly edited transcript of our conversation. But first, more about the project itself. It’s Canada’s entrée into the International Human Epigenome Consortium, and its announcement last week follows closely on the heels of last year’s launch of a European IHEC effort, BLUEPRINT (see our interview with the project’s Henk Stunnenberg here). While BLUEPRINT focused on blood epigenomes, which is common in … Continue reading →

Posted in Animal Models, Applications, DNA Methylation, Epigenome, Gene Regulation, Genomewide Methylation Profiling, Histone Modifications, Metabolism, Neuroscience, Next Gen Sequencing, Sodium Bisulfite Sequencing, Transcriptome | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Dosage Makes All the Difference! Zahnow & Baylin Labs Show Epigenetic Reprogramming of Cancer

Posted on April 3, 2012 by Nicole Kelesoglu

Many of you are probably attending AACR this week. Cancer research into Epi-drugs is certainly a big theme. Along those lines, there is good news from the Cynthia Zahnow and Sephen Baylin teams at John Hopkins University in this paper, Hsing-Chen Tsai et al. Transient Low Doses of DNA-Demethylating Agents Exert Durable Antitumor Effets on Hematological and Epithelial Tumor Cells.(March 2012) Cancer Cell 21, 430–446 . I’ll highlight the best bits. Obviously, the paper is awesome, and you need to read the details! The authors explain one of the most “striking effects” they observed is their accumulated evidence that this low dosage epigenetic chemotherapy can broadly reprogram stem-like cancer cells in solid cancers. Now, the exact molecular mechanisms of these … Continue reading →

Posted in Biomarkers, DNA Methylation, Flow Cytometry, Genomewide Methylation Profiling, Leukemia, Methylated DNA Capture, Oncology, Pharmacology / Toxicology, Stem Cells, Translational Research | Tagged , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Further Evidence of the Importance of 5-hydroxymethylation in Cancer

Posted on March 20, 2012 by Nicole Kelesoglu

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 →

Posted in Biomarkers, DNA Methylation, Diagnostics, History & Trends, Imaging, Immunohistochemistry, Oncology | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

The Epigenetic Two-Punch Cancer Treatment from Johns Hopkins

Posted on November 18, 2011 by Chris Womack

The big news in epigenetics this week is a two-drug epigenetic combo that shows results as good as the best FDA-approved chemotherapy in fighting non-small cell lung cancer, which accounts for about 80 percent such cancers. But missing from a lot of the mainstream accounts, the related study took a look at blood-based biomarkers, finding that they might serve as good indicators of whether a patient’s responding to treatment. Conducted by Johns Hopkins University’s Rosalind Juergens and colleagues, the phase I/II trial appears to be the most successful study of an epigenetic treatment of a solid tumor. I say this all the time, but keep in mind we’re still talking about a small sample size–the researchers studied 45 patients taking … Continue reading →

Posted in Applications, DNA Methylation, Diagnostics, Histone Modifications, Methyltransferases, Personalized Medicine, Translational Research | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

Choose your Weapon! No Shortage of Trials for HDAC Inhibitor Drugs

Posted on September 30, 2011 by Nicole Kelesoglu

In India, Hindus call a three-pronged spear a trishul. The prongs symbolize nature, in its creative, preservative, and destructive states. Cancer research aims are akin to those natural states. Rapid cellular division is the creative state, for which chemotherapy and radiation, (or most recently synchronous chemoradiation), are used to kill the rapidly dividing cells. Angiogenesis meets a preservative requirement, bringing blood flow to tumors. Metastasis is a resulting destructive oncogenic state. Oncologist clinicians require an evolving therapy plan – a plan to wield like a specialized weapon to hit moving targets. Many clinical trials are now involving multiple drugs in synchronized or sequenced treatments. They hope to overcome obstacles like drug resistance…to promote synergistic drug actions…all to achieve improved patient … Continue reading →

Posted in Clinical Studies, Histone Modifications, Histones, History & Trends, Oncology, Pharmacology / Toxicology, Translational Research | Tagged , , | Leave a comment