Cancer: pathological nuclear reprogramming?

Journal article

The ability of stem cells to self-renew and generate different lineages during development and organogenesis is a fundamental, tightly controlled, and generally unidirectional process, whereas the 'immortality' of cancer cells could be regarded as pathological self-renewal. The molecular mechanisms that underpin the generation of induced pluripotent stem cells are remarkably similar to those that are deregulated in cancer - so much so that aberrant reprogramming is tumorigenic. The similarities also suggest that mutations in genes implicated in DNA methylation dynamics might represent a hallmark of cancers with a stem cell origin, and they highlight an alternative view of cancer that may be of clinical benefit.

Authors: Goding, C; Pei, D; Lu, X

• Publication status: Published
• Journal: Nature reviews. Cancer
• Volume: 14
• Issue: 8
• Pages: 568-573
• Publication date: 2014-08-01
• DOI: 10.1038/nrc3781
• EISSN: 1474-1768
• ISSN: 1474-175X
• Language: English
• Keywords: Animals; Epigenesis, Genetic; Proto-Oncogene Proteins; Humans; DNA (Cytosine-5-)-Methyltransferase; Neoplasms; Tumor Microenvironment; Cell Transformation, Neoplastic; Isocitrate Dehydrogenase; Nuclear Reprogramming