Discovery in mitochondria opens new research on cancer

Researchers at the Massey Cancer Center at Virginia Commonwealth University have discovered an important mechanism in mitochondria that is involved in causing cancer and other aging diseases such as Parkinson's disease, heart disease and increased blood pressure.

The new discovery pioneered the creation of a new field of ' genetic genetics ' - the epigenetics that has the potential to develop future gene therapies for the treatment of cancer and related diseases. related to aging.

Dr. Shirley M. Taylor, a researcher at Massey VCU Cancer Center, is part of the VCU Department of Microbiology and Immunology at VCU School of Medicine, who used to be a graduate student when her research helped shape the foreign industry. genetics '. The ' genetic exogenous ' branch is involved in regulating the expression of genes in the cell nucleus, ultimately determining the biological properties of that cell. Over the past decade, Taylor and his colleagues have gone so far as to bring the genetics of genetics into a new field of research by discovering many enzymes in mitochondria that were previously known to exist only in the nucleus.

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In mammals, all cells have two different genomes, and contain all the genetic information. One set is in the nucleus while the other is in the mitochondria - the cell's energy plant.

Published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS ) magazine, Taylor's study found two DNA repair processes in the mitochondrial genome: methylated cytosine , it is known in the nucleus that it functions to ' mute ' the expression of a particular gene; and the hydroxymethyl cytosine molecule, which removes the ' mute ' point, is caused by methylation of cytosine .

This correction is like an on / off switch during DNA methylation. Taylor's team pointed out that the enzyme responsible for DNA methylation also appears in the mitochondria of mammalian cells. The presence of this DNA repair activity led researchers to believe that a gene control system similar to those occurring in the nucleus is also present in the mitochondria, performing the function of ensuring the proper amount of protein. The need for energy generation.

" In diseases like cancer, this genetic control is lost, " Taylor said. ' The genes that should be opened are closed and vice versa, leading to uncontrolled growth. Our research shows that errors in gene expression can be detected in mitochondria, and can contribute to the loss of specific mitochondrial function in cancer and the cause of associated diseases. related to aging . '

Taylor's team is working to introduce more mitochondria than the enzymes responsible for causing a ' mute ' point, and identify the enzymes responsible for removing it. This allows researchers to see which ' mute ' points affect mitochondrial energy production. The researchers also compared the amount of DNA methylation in diseased cells to healthy cells to determine what role the gene expression in mitochondria plays in those diseases.

" Many diseases of the elderly seem to have functional mitochondrial disabilities ," says Taylor Taylor. ' We are working to determine if the control of' genetic exceptions' is weak. If so, drugs known to affect gene expression in the nucleus may be useful to correct the errors caused by faulty gene expression in mitochondria. . '