Reference News Network, September 20 report - According to the Spanish newspaper "El País" website on September 19, an international team led by the August Pi i Sunyer Biomedical Research Institute in Spain and the UK Cancer Research Institute has developed an innovative method based on DNA methylation that can be used to decipher the origin and evolution of cancer, as well as predict its future clinical course. Although this study, just published in the British "Nature" weekly, analyzed the tumor evolution process of 2,000 patients with leukemia and lymphoma, the researchers believe the method can be applied to all types of cancer, including solid tumors.
The lead researcher of the study, Iñaki Martín-Suárez, head of the Biomedical Epigenomics Group at the August Pi i Sunyer Biomedical Research Institute, said: "This discovery opens new paths for understanding cancer biology. The new tool allows us to read the past history of cancer, trace the time of tumor origin, growth rate, and the process of cell diversity formation."
Cancer does not start at the time of diagnosis, but often develops quietly over years. Like the flight data recorder of an airplane, researchers have found the evolutionary trajectory of cancer, known as the "cancer black box," is encoded in the epigenome. Specifically, it is recorded in a special type of epigenetic marker called fluctuating DNA methylation marks.
Although traditionally methylation marks are considered to control gene expression like switches, this study reveals another function: the cells that initially form the tumor leave unique methylation marks, which not only reveal the identity of tumor cells, but also change as the tumor grows and differentiates. Martín-Suárez emphasized: "We knew before that epigenetic markers act as gene switches, but the latest findings show that they also record tumor information."
Using advanced mathematical models, the study successfully decoded these methylation patterns, reconstructing the origin and evolution of tumors with unprecedented accuracy.
Based on the hypothesis that understanding the past of cancer can predict its clinical future, the algorithm named EVOFLUx was applied to 2,000 lymphoma patient samples, covering diseases such as childhood acute lymphoblastic leukemia and adult chronic lymphocytic leukemia.
Calum Gabbat, a researcher at the UK Cancer Research Institute in London, stated: "We re-analyzed historical epigenetic data from a new perspective." Martí Duran-Ferrer, a researcher at the August Pi i Sunyer Biomedical Research Institute and co-first author of the study with Gabbat, also said: "Data once considered background noise now reveals the evolutionary history of cancer."
Martín-Suárez emphasized: "Take chronic lymphocytic leukemia, which does not always require immediate treatment, as an example. With this new test, we can predict several years in advance when the disease will need treatment." Considering that the researchers believe this method can be applied to all types of cancer, this news is even more significant, although "the technical parameters need to be adjusted for different tumor types." Martín-Suárez boldly predicted: "This will become a universal tool in oncology." (Translated by Liu Lifen)
On March 26, a man took photos of daffodils planted in Sefton Park in Liverpool, UK, under the name "Fields of Hope." Thousands of daffodils were planted to encourage cancer patients who are currently undergoing treatment or have recovered. (EPA)
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