![Epigenetic Markers in Pancreatic Cancer]()
Cancers sometimes start when external influences cause changes in DNA. These so-called epigenetic modifications can alter gene expression—silencing a gene or over-activating it, for example. In a study featured on the cover of the November issue of Genome Research, Amit Verma, M.B.B.S., reported that pancreatic cancers have unique epigenetic modifications in a regulatory portion of DNA known as Hydroxymethylcytosine (5-hmC). He and his team found that 5-hmC was abnormally distributed at locations in the genome that regulate the expression of several genes associated with cancer, such as the gene BRD4. Dr. Verma is professor of oncology and of developmental and molecular biology at Einstein and attending physician in oncology at Montefiore Einstein Center for Cancer Care. The study’s first author is Sanchari Bhattacharyya, Ph.D., a research associate in the department of medicine.
Posted on: Thursday, November 30, 2017