Can epigenetics point the way to treatment for pancreas cancer? Elizabeth Tracey reports

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Changes to DNA that are added on top of the baseline order of its building blocks are known as epigenetics, and these changes are implicated in a number of diseases and conditions, including pancreas cancer. Now a Johns Hopkins study points to specific changes and how they show up in cell regulation as one culprit in driving the disease. Kimmel Cancer Center director William Nelson at Johns Hopkins says there is practical aspect.

Nelson: The challenge the mechanisms for epigenetics are quite complex. Remember you have the same genes in your eye that you do in your toe and yet your eye is nothing like your toes, so it's all related to which genes you use and which genes you don't. And that's true of every cell in your body has the same genome and it's really quite amazing. When that process goes awry and cancer cells, it's going to be complicated, and this is an example of how trying to pin down specific mechanisms. Providing opportunities perhaps to intervene productively and for treatment.     :30

Nelson notes that since much of epigenetics involves adding chemical groups to DNA, intervening may be technically feasible. At Johns Hopkins, I’m Elizabeth Tracey.