Epigenetic CpG Demethylation of the Promoter and Reactivation of the Expression of Neurog1 by Curcumin in Prostate LNCaP Cells

In an interesting manuscript from the Kong lab at Rutgers, MeCP2 was excluded from binding the Neurog1 promoter in LNCaP cells treated with curcumin...this would present a novel mechanism for curcumin action and leaves open the question of how specific gene promoters are targeted for de-methylation.  You can read the paper here

http://www.springerlink.com/content/vn70663150u83456/

Friday's fun fact...

$47 trillion — Amount that five common, chronic noncommunicable diseases—heart disease, chronic respiratory disease, cancer, diabetes, and mental health issues—will cost the world by 2030, according to a study released 19 September by the World Economic Forum.- from Science Magazine, Sept. 23 2011

Nature Reviews Cancer: Biology and translation of the epigenome

A decade of exploring the cancer epigenome — biological and translational implications
Stephen B. Baylin & Peter A. Jones
p726 | doi:10.1038/nrc3130
Epigenetic alterations are leading candidates for the development of specific markers for cancer detection, diagnosis and prognosis, as well as new targets for cancer therapy. Which of the discoveries in the past 10 years are ready for advancement?

a must read at http://www.nature.com/nrc/journal/v11/n10/pdf/nrc3130.pdf

Epigenetics recognized as an important area of the National Urology Research Agenda

For those of us interested in urology research and epigenetics, this is good news:  The American Urology Association has brought together a team of experts encompassing urologists, researchers, the NIH and the Department of Defense Prostate Cancer Research Program to formulate the National Urology Research Agenda.  This document summarizes the current thinking and status of the field of urology research, and identifies the challenges that lay ahead; especially with our aging population.  If you are planning grant applications in this area, this might be a good document to read -- I personally was glad to see the inclusion of epigenetic studies on BPH - benign prostatic hyperplasia -- very little is known about the molecular pathogenesis of BPH -- but I can guarantee that there are indeed epigenetic changes in affected tissues.  If you think that you have a fundable project relating to these areas, you might want to try for some seed funding from the AUA - The application cycle for the 2011 AUA Foundation Urology Research Success Award will open in October. The awards will provide up to $10,000 in funds to be used by the applicant to initiate critical experiments while they await approved funding or to strengthen resubmission of an application that was scored but not funded.Check the AUA's website for more details in October.

New Review in Oncogene: DNA methylation and microRNAs in cancer

DNA methylation-associated silencing of tumor-suppressor microRNAs in cancer
P Lopez-Serra and M Esteller - and it is FREE - get the open access article here!

Some surprising insights on motivating people to be innovative....

One of the complaints that I hear from fellow faculty most often is that we weren't actually trained for the job!  What?  But let's think about it....in grad school -- we learn how to do research, write papers, and maybe how to write grant applications...but when do we learn management skills?  As research lab directors, it isn't just ordinary management skills we need to learn - we need to know how to comply with complex regulations, how to write numerous types of regulatory documents (e.g. IACUC protocols, IRB protocols) - how to manage a budget or multiple budgets and projects, and how to manage people.  When it comes to managing people, it would have been nice to get some training at some point on what to do, and especially on what NOT to do....and I personally would have preferred it to not be "on the job" training...therefore one of the things I'm going to try to post here every so often are the handy links that I find that might help in preparing people for future careers as lab heads...so hopefully I can help other people to skip that part of the learning curve!  This short (10 minute) video is entertaining, and useful to a variety of disciplines - but especially ones that require motivation and innovation -- one of the hardest things in science (especially in these times of tight funding) is keeping people motivated...and let's face it...how likely are you to get outstanding innovative research going on if you can't motivate your innovators?  Does money buy innovation? For the surprising answers (which are backed by top notch research), check out the video at http://youtu.be/u6XAPnuFjJc

Depletion of B vitamins, including folate, activates the Wnt pathway

The Mason Lab at Tufts has just published a study examining the effect of mild B vitamin depletion in two models of colorectal cancer:  they fed mice a diet limiting in folate, B2, B6 and B12 - the diet induced a 4-fold increase in Wnt signalling, and a 50% increase in tumors and aberrant crypt foci compared to mice fed a diet with the basal requirements of these vitamins.  The Wnt pathway is known to be important in not only colorectal cancer, but also in prostate cancer progression as well - it remains to be seen if mild folate depletion can also affect Wnt signalling in prostate tissues and we are currently examining this in our lab.  Meanwhile, we have another example of how low folate can be implicated in carcinogenesis - read all about it at in FASEB journal