( differences in methylated and unmethyl...)NYU and MSKCC research provides model for understanding chemically induced cancer initiation

"Because environmental chemical carcinogens, including those present in cigarette smoke, are a significant threat to human health, it is imperative to understand how chemicals can induce mutations and cancer at the molecular level," added NYU's Broyde. "Such information is needed for devising novel preventive and therapeutic strategies for addressing the problem of cancer induction by environmental chemical carcinogens."

The researchers added that the finding opens new horizons, at the molecular level, for understanding the effects of methylation at p53 mutation hot spots on the properties of carcinogen-DNA lesions. Current thinking in the field of chemical carcinogenesis is that the mutation-prone, or error-free processing of such carcinogen-damaged p53 genes by DNA repair proteins and DNA and RNA polymerases can determine whether these lesions ultimately contribute to the development of lung and other cancers.