Researchers observed that genes that protect from cancer as the vitamin A receptor alter its activity in colon cancer cells by the presence of spherical structures formed by DNA (in this case expression regulatory regions of genes) and proteins called histones.

“We have observed,” said the researcher Manel Esteller, “that epigenetic drugs, capable of demethylating DNA, approved for patients with a subtype of leukemia, are also able to eliminate these ‘balls’ of antitumor genes so that they can express again, and recover their function.”

“This study”, explained Esteller, “also served to discover new genes, inhibitors of cancer.”

The discovery increases the molecular understanding of the causes of cancer and as to the clinical application of the discovery; Esteller explained that “there is currently a wide range of drugs in preclinical development capable of ejecting nucleosomes of aberrant places of the genome”.

Article’s reference
Portela A, Liz J, Nogales V, Setién F, Villanueva A, and Esteller M. DNA methylation determines nucleosome occupancy in the 5′-CpG islands of tumor suppressor genes. Oncogene doi: 10.1038/onc, May 2013.