German-Catalan workshop on epigenetics and cancer

Abstract

In the First German-Catalan Workshop on Epigenetics and Cancer held in Heidelberg, Germany (June 17–19, 2013), cutting-edge laboratories (PEBC, IMPPC, DKFZ, and the Collaborative Research Centre Medical Epigenetics of Freiburg) discussed the latest breakthroughs in the field. The importance of DNA demethylation, non-coding and imprinted genes, metabolic stress, and cell transdifferentiation processes in cancer and non-cancer diseases were addressed in several lectures in a very participative and dynamic atmosphere.

 

The meeting brought together leading figures in the field of cancer epigenetics to present their research work from the last five years. Experts in different areas of oncology described important advances in colorectal, lung, neuroblastoma, leukemia, and lymphoma cancers. The workshop also provided an interesting forum for pediatrics, and focused on the need to improve the treatment of childhood tumors in order to avoid, as far as possible, brain damage and disruption of activity in areas of high plasticity. From the beginning, the relevance of “omics” and the advances in genome-wide analysis platforms, which allow cancer to be studied in a more comprehensive and inclusive way, was very clear. Modern “omics” offer the possibility of identifying metastases of uncertain origin and establishing epigenetic signatures linked to a specific cluster of patients with a particular prognosis. In this context, invited speakers described novel tumor-associated histone variants and DNA-specific methylation, highlighting their close connection with other processes such as cell-lineage commitment and stemness.

Keywords: :

• DNA methylation
• chromatin
• epigenetics
• histone modifications
• non-coding RNAs

Disclosure of Potential Conflicts of Interest

No potential conflicts of interest were disclosed.

Acknowledgments

The workshop was funded by “epigenetics@dkfz” a cross-program topic at the German Cancer Research Center.