Scientists Explain Cancer-causing Mutations

Researchers from different institutions are shedding light on the mystery of how mutations in isocitrate dehydrogenease 1 (IDH1) gene can cause brain cancer and leukemia. William Kaelin, an onocologist at the Dana Farber Cancer Institute in Massachusetts, and team found that the form of 2-hydroxyglutarate that accumulates in IDH1-mutant cancer cells promotes cell growth by blocking the activity of a protein called hypoxia inducible factor (HIF), which can sometimes suppress tumors.

On the other hand, Timothy Chan from the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York, discovered that IDH1 mutations affects an enzyme that controls the deposition of methyl groups on DNA. The addition of methyl groups can turn on or off the expression of genes. The team also explained that changing the methylation state of histones prevents cells from differentiating. Absence of differentiation is a characteristic of cancer cells.

"This work shows that indeed there is a causal relationship between the mutation and those methylation changes," says Martin van den Bent, a neuro-oncologist at the Daniel den Hoed Cancer Center in Rotterdam, the Netherlands. "One gets the feeling that we are getting closer to the dream of developing a treatment for IDH1-mutant cancers."

See the original article at http://www.nature.com/news/cancer-causing-mutations-yield-their-secrets-1.10029.