Epigenetic Changes In Cancer

The most compelling piece of information that I read from the article "Epigenetics: Its What Turns You On...and Off" (Schardt, 2013) is how children born from the same mother, before gastric bypass surgery and after the surgery, had different patterns of epigenetic marks than their siblings. It would not have crossed my mind that being overweight would actually have an affect on your genes, that could be passed down to your offspring. Researchers have also reported that the gene IGF2 was more turned on in those born to obese fathers, which might increase the risk of becoming overweight in adulthood (Schardt, 2013). So they chances that a child becomes overweight is on both parents and not just one.

This illustrates how children develop cancer from different types of carcinogenic and genes, this will be used in the introduction of my essay.

I have worked on DNA methylation, RNA expression, clinical patient data based on the Pancreatic Adenocarcinoma dataset through the cancer genome atlas (TCGA). The study

According to Rachael Rettner, Epigenetics is defined as, “external modifications to DNA that turn genes on or off. These modifications to DNA do not change the DNA sequence, but instead, they affect how cells read genes.” (Rettner 2013) Epigenetics is thought to possibly have a role in the development of some cancers. Since epigenetics modifies DNA, they can hide a growth, so to speak, or it can play a role in repairing the DNA’s damage. (Rettner 2013) If the changes are in the person’s sperm or egg cells, there is a possibility of that person’s children, or they’re children’s children, getting the modified DNA. (Rettner 2013) In a process called reprogramming, when the sperm and egg combine it allows the fetus to make its own epigenetic changes,

Thesis: Individuals that have experienced traumatic events or are put into high stress environments are prone to having their epigenetics modified which can be passed down to offspring. The altered genes can induce people to becoming much more vulnerable to depression and anxiety as a result. While there isn't a way to “cure” intergenerational trauma there are ways to cope with it.

Researchers first thought the genes you receive from your parents are set in stone since they are made of a genetic code set in our DNA sequence;however, they are discovering that there is a second layer of structure that combines with DNA to decide whether or not a gene is active or not, called the epigenome. The epigenome consists of the DNA, histones, a protein DNA is wrapped around, and chemical tags. The epigenome alters the genetic code by directing signals. The signals come from the environment, which are reacted upon by epigenetic tags to turn a gene either on or off without affecting the DNA sequence. Certain things from our environment that send signals to epigenetic tags to change our genes in the epigenome includes the following:

Define Epigenetics  Epigenetics is the study of chemical reactions and factors that influence the reactions controlling growth and development of an organism to be activated or deactivated in specific locations of genome at specific times.

As of late there has been more of a focus on the Epigenetics component of mental illness.

Epigenetics is a field where advances are being made daily. Epigenetics is defined as “heritable changes in gene expression that occur without a change in DNA sequence,” as stated by Dr. Alan Wolffe. A way in which we can understand this definition is by taking the analogy of a card game. The cards, the DNA sequence, have been dealt and will not change, however we need to understand how to play the cards, the rules, which is epigenetics. The guidelines can vary and completely change the way the card game is played and who comes out on top. The rules that are studied and understood through this research paper are those of DNA methylation and chromatin. These changes can produce

I took a semester off in the Spring of 2012 and 2013. In 2012, I helped care for my grandfather, who suffered from lung cancer and passed away that April. During my time off, I volunteered in the pediatric department of the hospital where he was staying. The inoperable nature of his cancer spurred me to shadow Dr Cheng, a radiation oncologist. In 2013, my mother was told that she might have breast cancer. With my father working in China, I took time off to be with her. I decided to transfer schools because Columbia dramatically decreased my financial aid for the upcoming year, while Brandeis offered me a full scholarship. With my mother’s health issues, I did not want to further burden her financially. I shadowed Dr Anderson, a pediatric geneticist at UT Genetic Center and validated a plasma cell enrichment procedure for the diagnosis of Multiple Myeloma.

What is epigenetics? Epigenetics to me is the alteration to our genome that we are able to change in not only ourselves but in our children and future generations as well all based on lifestyle habits we live today. After first watching the PBS video on epigenetics, I was astonished on how our ways of life have such a profound effect upon not only our genes but our future generations of children as well. In the video research was conducted on over forty identical twins ages ranging from three to seventy-four, this was to compare the lifestyle habits such as smoking, exercise, and different diets have on an individual. I found it fascinating that when there was comparing the genomes of the elderly Spanish twins compared to the three-year-olds; we were able to see how much of a difference the Spanish twins genome

DNA methylation is one of “the best known epigenetic marker[s]” (Fukushige). The promoter CpG islands created by DNA methylation in an attempt to silence sections of the DNA code are easily recognized by the methylation-specific PCR analysis. The aberrant DNA methylation common of cancer cells is capable of being detected, even when surrounded by significant amounts of impure normal DNA. Since DNA methylation occurs during the early stages of pancreatic cancer, the early detection could help prevent the loss of an individual’s life by the disease, which makes the identification of pancreatic cancer by DNA methylation a beneficial signalling method and good for risk estimation as well

The development and importance of epigenetics has revealed to the world the explanation of many gene expressing mutations also factors that may account for genetic variation. The result of this observation helped many scientists around the world cures as well as new analysis methods to help survivors .The understanding obtained from the discovery of epigenetics has and will continue to inform ways of preventing and manipulating genetic expressions to our advantage throughout these upcoming generations. Throughout this essay response, the following information will cover the focus on how epigenetics can account for genetic variability in organisms, it will also relate to factors

Cancer is a leading cause of death and devastating experiences for patients’ family members and close friends. The disease undermines the emotional wellbeing of the survivors during and after treatment. It often affects the physical appearance and exposes the family members to financial constraints thereby leading to depression, reduced productivity at workplaces and many other social problems. However, the controversies over the causes of cancer continue to impact the awareness campaigns and the general population attitude towards treatment options. According to Thun, Linet, Cerhan, Haiman, and Schottenfeld (2017), many people believe that gene composition is the leading risk factor for cancer. In contrast, etiological studies have confirmed

Modification of damaged DNA seems to be an understudied subject, there is much to understand on the restoration of DNA damage, repair and DNA methylation. Genomic DNA can be modified by methylation but much of it is affected on a gene when silenced. When epigenetic modification has been implicated with cancer and aging it causes DNA methylation to also have an impact on the double strand of DNA analysis. Modification as such provoke deteriorating changes like aging found in multicellular organisms and DNA damage may magnify biochemical pathways that regulate a cells growth or control DNA replication with DNA repair. In the article “DNA Damage, Homology-Directed Repair, and DNA Methylation” written by Concetta Cuozzo, Antonio Porcellini, Tiziana Angrisano, et al. they hypothesize how DNA damage and gene silencing may induce a DNA double-strand break within a genome as well as when DNA methylation is induced by homologous recombination that it may somewhat mark its reparation through a DNA segment and protect its cells against any unregulated gene expression that may be followed by DNA damage. The experiments used to demonstration how gene conversion can modify methylation pattern of repaired DNA and when that occurs methylation is able to silence the recombined gene. When exploring the molecular mechanisms that link DNA damage and the silencing gene then there is an induced double strand break that can be found at a specific location or DNA sequence in where the