Science and Research

Pioneer Factors and Architectural Proteins Mediating Embryonic Expression Signatures in Cancer

Accumulation of mutations causing aberrant changes in the genome promotes cancer. However, mutations do not occur in every cancer subtype, suggesting additional events that trigger cancer. Chromatin rearrangements initiated by pioneer factors and architectural proteins are key events occurring before cancer-related genes are expressed. Both protein groups are also master regulators of important processes during embryogenesis. Several publications demonstrated that embryonic gene expression signatures are reactivated during cancer. This review article highlights current knowledge on pioneer factors and architectural proteins mediating chromatin rearrangements, which are the backbone of embryonic expression signatures promoting malignant transformation. Understanding chromatin rearrangements inducing embryonic expression signatures in adult cells might be the key to novel therapeutic approaches against cancers subtypes that arise without genomic mutations.

  • Dobersch, S.
  • Rubio, K.
  • Barreto, G.

Keywords

  • Animals
  • *Biomarkers, Tumor
  • Chromatin/genetics/metabolism
  • Disease Progression
  • Disease Susceptibility
  • Epithelial-Mesenchymal Transition/genetics
  • Gene Expression Profiling
  • Gene Expression Regulation, Neoplastic
  • Histones/metabolism
  • Humans
  • Neoplasms/*etiology/*metabolism/pathology
  • Nucleosomes/metabolism
  • *architectural proteins
  • *cancer
  • *embryonic
  • *expression signature
  • *pioneer factors
Publication details
DOI: 10.1016/j.molmed.2019.01.008
Journal: Trends in molecular medicine
Pages: 287-302 
Number: 4
Work Type: Review
Location: UGMLC
Disease Area: LC
Partner / Member: JLU, MPI
Access-Number: 30795971
See publication on PubMed

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