"Smad"eningly erratic: target gene methylation determines whether TGFbeta promotes or suppresses malignant glioma.
TGFbeta functions as a tumor suppressor in some contexts and a tumor promoter in others. In a recent issue of Cancer Cell, Bruna et al. (2007) shed light on an epigenetic mechanism that underlies this schizophrenic behavior in malignant glioma. Their findings highlight a stem cell/cancer link...and a potential blind spot in large-scale cancer genome sequencing projects.
Kesari
Santosh
S
Dana-Farber Cancer Institute, Boston, Massachusetts 02115, USA.
Jackson-Grusby
Laurie
L
Stiles
Charles D
CD
D000818:Animals; D001932:Brain Neoplasms / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism / Q000503:physiopathology; D002471:Cell Transformation, Neoplastic / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D019175:DNA Methylation; D044127:Epigenesis, Genetic / Q000235:genetics; D015972:Gene Expression Regulation, Neoplastic / Q000235:genetics*; D005910:Glioma / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism / Q000503:physiopathology; D006801:Humans; D051785:Smad Proteins / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism; D013234:Stem Cells / Q000378:metabolism; D016212:Transforming Growth Factor beta / Q000235:genetics* / Q000378:metabolism
D051785:Smad Proteins; D016212:Transforming Growth Factor beta