Tag Archives: esteller

Dog’s epigenome gives clues to human cancer

Unlike other mammals used in research, dogs develop cancer spontaneously as humans do and cancer is the most common cause of death in this species. The dog genome has been obtained in recent years, but we still don’t know how is controlled and regulated, what we call the epigenome. This week the team led by Manel Esteller, director of the Program for Epigenetics and Cancer Biology (PEBC) at Bellvitge Biomedical Research Institute (IDIBELL), Professor of Genetics at the University of Barcelona and ICREA researcher, has characterized the dog’s epigenome and transferred the results to human cancer to understand the changes in appearance of tumors. The finding is published this week in the journal Cancer Research. …

Why tumors become resistant to chemotherapy

Many mechanisms contribute to explain this effect called "acquired resistance," but today the group of Manel Esteller, Director of Epigenetics and Cancer Biology at the Bellvitge Biomedical Research Institute (IDIBELL), ICREA researcher and Professor of Genetics at the University of Barcelona, describes in the official Journal of the National Cancer Research Center in the United States, The Journal of The National Cancer Institute, the existence of epigenetic differences that explain the lack of response of the tumor recurs. "We studied colon cancer cells that were initially sensitive to oxaliplatin drug and then became insensitive to this drug and we found that resistant tumors had inactivated a gene (SRBC) in their DNA" says Manel Esteller "the loss of activity supposedly happens in a gene involved in DNA repair. Thus these tumor cells, when receiving the drug, quickly repair the effect thereof and do not die. Studying nearly two hundred patients with colon cancer also found that inactivation of the gene is associated with poorer survival of these people despite treatment. …