tumor growth switch tagged posts

The linker histone H1.0 generates epigenetic and functional intratumor heterogeneity.

Scientists have revealed how a genetic switch involved in the packaging of DNA may be key to a cancer cell’s ability to keep growing.The Francis Crick Institute researchers found that production of a protein called H1.0 was frequently switched off in many cancer types and that reactivating this protein halted tumour growth. Studying cancer cells lacking H1.0, they found that DNA becomes uncoiled at key points, activating a series of genes that stall the cell in an ‘immature’ state. This allows the cells to carry on dividing and expanding the tumour.

But as the tumour grows H1.0 can spontaneously become switched back on in some cells...