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USC researchers uncovered this link after observing that of 177 genes repressed by Polycomb group (""PcG"") proteins, fully 77 showed evidence of cancer-associated enzymatic modification of DNA (known as methylation). "Finding that a Polycomb target in an embryonic stem cell is 12 times more likely to become abnormally methylated in cancer is highly significant," says Peter Laird, Ph.D., one of the lead researchers and associate professor of surgery, biochemistry and molecular biology, and director of basic research for surgery at the Keck School of Medicine of USC.
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The study appears in ""PLoS"" ONE, the international, peer-reviewed, open-access, online publication from the Public Library of Science (""PLoS"").
