Epigenetic treatments: New allies for chemotherapies?
If genetics is interested in gene sequencing, epigenetics studies how genes are going to be used, or not used, by a cell. The epigenome of a cell represents the set of chemical modifications of the DNA or associated proteins that will determine the expression of the genes and thus the cell's identity. This information, which is central from the development of the embryo onwards, leads to changes in how our genes are expressed without affecting their sequence. By modifying its epigenome, the cell can adapt quickly to its environment. Genetics and epigenetics work together to enable cells to perform their function. A research team 1 led by Celine Vallot, CNRS Research Director in the Laboratoire Dynamique de l'information Génétique: Bases Fondamentales et Cancer (CNRS/Institut Curie/Sorbonne Université), and the Département de Recherche Translationnelle de l'Institut Curie (CNRS/Institut Curie/Sorbonne University), analysed cell by cell the epigenetic variations acquired by tumour cells during chemotherapy treatment. In collaboration with the team of Léila Périé, a CNRS researcher at the Physico-chimie Curie (CNRS/Institut Curie/Sorbonne Université), the scientists identified the genes whose expression allowed cells to tolerate 2 treatment, as well as the epigenomic modifications that regulate them.
