JCB-JEM Symposium: Christopher Vakoc - Lineage Reprogramming in Cancer
13Christopher Vakoc gives his talk "Lineage Reprogramming in Cancer" as part of the JCB-JEM symposium on Tackling Cancer Plasticity and Heterogeneity at The Rockefeller University in New York, October 9th, 2018. https://rupress.org/pages/jcb-jem-symposium-tackling-cancer-plasticity-and-heterogeneity
The Vakoc lab at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory examines how epigenetic regulators participate in the pathogenesis of cancers. Dr. Vakoc’s talk focuses on a project defining epigenetic subtypes of pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma and small-cell lung cancer.
Dr. Vakoc and colleagues examine how enhancer landscapes change as tumors progress. Interestingly, some enhancers detected in tumor cells are activated during healthy developmental processes. By inducing particular epigenetic states in cancer cells, Dr. Vakoc and colleagues characterize the phenotypic consequences of changes in epigenetic landscapes and identify the proteins—in particular transcription factors and epigenetic regulators—that are needed to sustain particular signatures. Classifying tumors into epigenetic subtypes offers great potential for patient care, as these subtypes could respond differently to targeted therapies. The results show that tumor cell lineage is a source of inter-tumoral heterogeneity.
Video © Rockefeller University Press