methylation

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How I Found the Greally Lab

Friday, January 26th, 2007

The Greally lab was really easy to find. They linked to me. I have access to a nice stats package through my Web host that shows every referrer to Epigenetics News. So if any Web site links to any page of this site, I’ll eventually see it. Eventually, because there are now hundreds (if not [...]

Tumor-Free Breast Tissue Can Have Increased Methylation

Friday, January 19th, 2007

New research from a team at the Ohio State University Comprehensive Cancer Center shows that normal breast tissue as much as 4 cm away from a cancerous breast tissue can have increased methylation in the RASSF1A gene promoter.
During this study, the researchers measured the degrees of methylation in tissue removed from 47 patients who had [...]

Late Fall Issue of Journal of Epigenetics Available

Thursday, January 11th, 2007

The October/November/December 2006 issue of the journal Epigenetics is now available and contains four research papers covering topics related to breast cancer, autism, and prostate cancer.
In Vivo Methylation Patterns of the Leptin Promoter in Human and Mouse (Open Access)
Epigenetic Regulation of Manganese Superoxide Dismutase Expression in Human Breast Cancer Cells
Reduced MeCP2 Expression is Frequent in [...]

Results of Clinical Trial in Blood-Based Cancer Detection

Thursday, January 11th, 2007

BioCangen Inc. has announced the initial results of its clinical validation study of early cancer detection.
Among the blood samples from 102 patients with solid tumors including lung cancer, colon cancer, breast cancer and stomach cancer, 73 samples were correctly identified as the cancer, showing a 71.6% detection sensitivity. Among the 82 health individuals, only 3 [...]

Illumina Introduces High Throughput DNA Methylation Profiling

Wednesday, January 10th, 2007

Illumina Inc. (NASDAQ:ILMN) has announced that it has introduced a high-throughput DNA methylation profiling technology capable of surveying up to 1,536 methylation sites across 96 samples simultaneously. From Business Wire:
By pairing Illumina’s proven BeadArray platform with the GoldenGate(R) assay approach, researchers have the ability to perform genome-wide methylation profiling across multiple areas such as cancer [...]

Epigenetics Garners Fifth Spot in Discover’s Top Science Stories of 2006

Saturday, January 6th, 2007

Discover Magazine has recognized several related discoveries in the field of epigenetics as the fifth top science story of 2006.

Epigenetic Stem Cell Signature in Cancer

Tuesday, January 2nd, 2007

Nature Genetics has published a brief communication from Marth et. al on the epigenetic stem cell signature in cancer:
Embryonic stem cells rely on Polycomb group proteins to reversibly repress genes required for differentiation. We report that stem cell Polycomb group targets are up to 12-fold more likely to have cancer-specific promoter DNA hypermethylation than non-targets, [...]

Biomarkers In Focus At Environmental Health Perspectives

Tuesday, January 2nd, 2007

The Focus article in the December issue of Environmental Health Perspective covers a term that should be very familiar to anyone following epigenetics: biomarker.

Was 2006 a Good Year for Epigenetics? (Part II)

Sunday, December 31st, 2006

In an earlier post, I began taking a look back at the year 2006 in epigenetics. With the last day of 2006 upon us, it seemed like a good time to complete the review of the year’s most memorable events (covered by Epigenetics News).

Methylation Markers Found for Multiple Cancers

Friday, December 29th, 2006

A research group at University of Texas Southwestern have discovered multiple genes that are consistently methylated in lung, breast, colon, and prostate cancers. The research from Shames et. al was published this week in PLoS Medicine: A Genome-Wide Screen for Promoter Methylation in Lung Cancer Identifies Novel Methylation Markers for Multiple Malignancies.The researchers used microarray [...]

Was 2006 a Good Year for Epigenetics?

Tuesday, December 19th, 2006

Epigenetics, the study of heritable changes not involving changes in DNA sequence, saw a huge boost in public awareness in 2006. There were a number of high profile discoveries in the realm of epigenetics that were unveiled (or progressed) in 2006, which aid in increasing awareness of the field as a legitimate avenue to exciting [...]

Epigenomics Reviewing Options for Commercialization of Cancer Screening Tests

Monday, December 18th, 2006

Following the recent announcement of the end of the the Roche collaboration, Epigenomics has issued a press release indicating its intent to “review all options for a fast commercialization of the cancer screening tests.”
Epigenomics AG (Frankfurt, Prime Standard: ECX) today announced that Roche Diagnostics has notified the company about the termination of the joint collaboration [...]

Roche Terminates Cancer Screening Collaboration with Epigenomics

Friday, December 15th, 2006

Roche Diagnostics has announced that it has decided to end its 4-year collaboration with Epigenomics (ECX GY).

Epigenetics in X-Linked Mental Retardation

Thursday, December 14th, 2006

New research, currently in press from the international Journal of Cellular and Molecular Medicine, describes (speculative) evidence for an epigenetic link to human mental retardation.The search for the genetic defects in constitutional diseases has so far been restricted to direct methods for the identification of genetic mutations in the patients’ genome. Traditional methods such as [...]

BioServe Unveils DNA Methylation Analysis Service

Tuesday, December 12th, 2006

Laurel, MD-based BioServe Biotechnologies has unveiled a new service to analyze the ratio of methylation within a specific region of genomic DNA. The service utilizes Sequenom’s MassARRAY System and EpiTYPER methodology.
DNA methylation markers are a new and important class of biomarkers that are significant because of their correlation to gene activity. High levels of cytosine [...]

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