DOG'S EPIGENOME GIVES CLUE TO HUMAN CANCER
The bond between
humans and dogs is strong and ancient. From being the protector of the first
herds in a faithful pet, dogs and people share many aspects of life. The
relationship between the two species has been studied by psychologists,
anthropologists, ethnologists and also by genetic and molecular biologists. In
this sense, dogs are a great model for understanding the causes of human
diseases, especially 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.
"We have
characterized the epigenome level of each nucleotide of DNA of cells from the
cocker species spaniel. In these canine cells we induced a morphological change
similar to what happens in cancer progression and we have seen displayed
significant alterations in the modulation of genes, called epigenetic lesions
"says Manel Esteller.
"The interesting
thing is that when we looked the same dog genes in human breast cancer,
epigenetic aberrations occur in the same regions of DNA. Data suggests the
existence of common epigenetic mechanisms in both species that have been
evolutionarily conserved to change the shape and consistency of our cells and
tissues, "concludes the researcher.
Study results suggest
that act pharmacological action on these epigenetic alterations may be helpful
in slowing disease progression.
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