Clinical researchers at the Baylor College of Medicine report that cancer can result from epigenetic changes, which are changes in gene expression.
Epigenetics focuses on the study of heritable genetics changes caused by changes in the DNA sequence.
In epigenetics, scientists turn-off and turn-on DNA and RNA to uncover their chemical reactions.
Lanlan Shen, an Associate Professor at the Baylor College of Medicine, said they knew epigenetic changes were associated with cancer, but didn't know whether they were a cause or a consequence of cancer.
She added that developing new approaches for epigenetic engineering allowed them to see whether DNA methylation changes can drive a cancer.
Shen and her fellow researchers focused on a gene anomaly called p16 that normally functions to prevent cancer.
They engineered DNA methylation in mice's p16 regulatory region where the p16 acted as a methylation magnet
The mice developed spontaneous cancers and had reduced chances of survival when the team increased its p16 methylation.
Shen said this is not the first evidence that epigenetic alteration can cause cancer. There are also profound implications that epigenetic changes can be potentially reversible.
Shen believes their findings can provide new epigenetic therapies and validate novel approaches for testing them.
Dr. Robert Waterland, one of Shen's fellow researchers, said their findings can open doors for a whole new paradigm of understanding tumorigenesis.
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