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Credit: Aaron Logan
Researchers say they’ve created a mouse model that provides the first in vivo evidence that epigenetic alterations alone can cause cancer.
They described the work in The Journal of Clinical Investigation.
“We knew that epigenetic changes are associated with cancer but didn’t know whether these were a cause or consequence of cancer,” said study author Lanlan Shen, MD, PhD, of Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, Texas.
“Developing this new approach for ‘epigenetic engineering’ allowed us to test whether DNA methylation changes alone can drive cancer.”
Dr Shen and her colleagues focused on p16, a gene that normally functions to prevent cancer but is commonly methylated in a range of cancers. They devised an approach to engineer DNA methylation specifically to the mouse p16 promoter.
As intended, the engineered p16 promoter acted as a “methylation magnet.” As the mice reached adulthood, gradually increasing p16 methylation led to a higher incidence of spontaneous cancers and reduced survival.
“This is not only the first in vivo evidence that epigenetic alteration alone can cause cancer,” Dr Shen said.
“This also has profound implications for future studies because epigenetic changes are potentially reversible. Our findings therefore both provide hope for new epigenetic therapies and validate a novel approach for testing them.”
Dr Shen also noted that this new approach could be widely useful because there are many other genes and diseases connected to epigenetics.
Just as genetic engineering has become a standard approach for studying how genetic mutations cause disease, epigenetic engineering will enable functional studies of epigenetics. 
Credit: Aaron Logan
Researchers say they’ve created a mouse model that provides the first in vivo evidence that epigenetic alterations alone can cause cancer.
They described the work in The Journal of Clinical Investigation.
“We knew that epigenetic changes are associated with cancer but didn’t know whether these were a cause or consequence of cancer,” said study author Lanlan Shen, MD, PhD, of Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, Texas.
“Developing this new approach for ‘epigenetic engineering’ allowed us to test whether DNA methylation changes alone can drive cancer.”
Dr Shen and her colleagues focused on p16, a gene that normally functions to prevent cancer but is commonly methylated in a range of cancers. They devised an approach to engineer DNA methylation specifically to the mouse p16 promoter.
As intended, the engineered p16 promoter acted as a “methylation magnet.” As the mice reached adulthood, gradually increasing p16 methylation led to a higher incidence of spontaneous cancers and reduced survival.
“This is not only the first in vivo evidence that epigenetic alteration alone can cause cancer,” Dr Shen said.
“This also has profound implications for future studies because epigenetic changes are potentially reversible. Our findings therefore both provide hope for new epigenetic therapies and validate a novel approach for testing them.”
Dr Shen also noted that this new approach could be widely useful because there are many other genes and diseases connected to epigenetics.
Just as genetic engineering has become a standard approach for studying how genetic mutations cause disease, epigenetic engineering will enable functional studies of epigenetics.
Credit: Aaron Logan
Researchers say they’ve created a mouse model that provides the first in vivo evidence that epigenetic alterations alone can cause cancer.
They described the work in The Journal of Clinical Investigation.
“We knew that epigenetic changes are associated with cancer but didn’t know whether these were a cause or consequence of cancer,” said study author Lanlan Shen, MD, PhD, of Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, Texas.
“Developing this new approach for ‘epigenetic engineering’ allowed us to test whether DNA methylation changes alone can drive cancer.”
Dr Shen and her colleagues focused on p16, a gene that normally functions to prevent cancer but is commonly methylated in a range of cancers. They devised an approach to engineer DNA methylation specifically to the mouse p16 promoter.
As intended, the engineered p16 promoter acted as a “methylation magnet.” As the mice reached adulthood, gradually increasing p16 methylation led to a higher incidence of spontaneous cancers and reduced survival.
“This is not only the first in vivo evidence that epigenetic alteration alone can cause cancer,” Dr Shen said.
“This also has profound implications for future studies because epigenetic changes are potentially reversible. Our findings therefore both provide hope for new epigenetic therapies and validate a novel approach for testing them.”
Dr Shen also noted that this new approach could be widely useful because there are many other genes and diseases connected to epigenetics.
Just as genetic engineering has become a standard approach for studying how genetic mutations cause disease, epigenetic engineering will enable functional studies of epigenetics.