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Scientists have exposed a molecule known as Yin Yang1, it may fuel tumour growth in breast cancer. The research was led by Imperial College London. The findings reveal how tumours can change their appearance to evade cancer treatments, using epigenetics. Yin Yang1 is a type of molecule, called a transcription factor, which activate genes. Although each cell contains around 25,000 genes, only a certain number are switched on at a time, depending on what functions the cell needs to perform.
Cells of the body need Yin Yang1, to check whether it is useful or not, the team completed in-depth genetic profiling of breast tumours from different patients, using a variety of different techniques, including the gene editing technique CRISPR. They discovered that cancer cells are much more reliant on Yin Yang 1 than normal cells, and that it may drive breast cancer growth. The results also showed tumours change which genes they switch on as they become aggressive which may affect how they respond to treatment.
Tumours switch different genes on and off as they progress, and can fundamentally change their appearance, if a tumour becomes more aggressive, and spreads around the body, biopsy will be recommended. Researchers analysed 34 breast tumours from patients whose cancer had not spread around the body, and 13 tumours from another group of patients with more advanced breast tumours whose cancer had spread. Epigenetics enables cancer tumours to adapt to their environment, evade treatment and ultimately survive longer.
To help the scientists track epigenetics the researchers monitored chemical modifications on DNA regions called enhancers, types of ciphers that tell the cell to switch on certain genes when they are activated. The results revealed that two particular enhancers, regulating SLC9A3R1 and Yin Yang1 genes are activated at specific stages when they might help cancer cells grow and evade treatment. Yin Yang1 was found to switch on SLC9A3R1, which helped tumours grow.