Skip to main content

Advertisement

SpringerLink
Log in

Resistance, epigenetics and the cancer ecosystem

  • News & Views
  • Published:

From Nature Medicine

View current issue Submit your manuscript

Therapeutic resistance is a key roadblock to effective cancer treatment and can occur through various mechanisms. A recent study characterized a previously unknown, reversible mechanism of drug resistance mediated by an altered chromatin state, suggesting that cancer cell populations can use a dynamic strategy to ensure their survival when challenged by therapeutic intervention.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Figure 1: Epigenetic modulation of tumor-initiating cells and therapy resistance.

References

  1. Hoey, T. Sci. Transl. Med. 2, 28ps19 (2010).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  2. Sawyers, C.L. Nat. Med. 15, 1158–1161 (2009).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  3. Engelman, J.A. & Janne, P.A. Clin. Cancer Res. 14, 2895–2899 (2008).

    Article  Google Scholar 

  4. Cohen, A.A. et al. Science 322, 1511–1516 (2008).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  5. Bird, A. Genes Dev. 16, 6–21 (2002).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  6. Sharma, S.V. et al. Cell 141, 69–80 (2010).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  7. Jones, P.A. & Baylin, S.B. Cell 128, 683–692 (2007).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  8. Reya, T., Morrison, S.J., Clarke, M.F. & Weissman, I.L. Nature 414, 105–111 (2001).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  9. Klose, R.J. et al. Cell 128, 889–900 (2007).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  10. Gaymes, T.J. et al. Mol. Cancer Res. 4, 563–573 (2006).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  11. Johnstone, S.E. & Baylin, S.B. Nat. Rev. Genet. 11, 806–812 (2010).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  12. Mikkelsen, T.S. et al. Nature 454, 49–55 (2008).

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Stephen B. Baylin is at the Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center at Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland, USA.,

    Stephen B Baylin

Authors
  1. Stephen B Baylin
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Stephen B Baylin.

Ethics declarations

Competing interests

The author declares no competing financial interests.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Baylin, S. Resistance, epigenetics and the cancer ecosystem. Nat Med 17, 288–289 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1038/nm0311-288

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/nm0311-288

  • Springer Nature America, Inc.

This article is cited by

Search

Navigation