Abstract IA17: Dynamic changes in the epigenetic landscape during retinal development, cellular reprogramming, and tumorigenesis

The stepwise progression from proliferating multipotent progenitor cells to terminally differentiated neurons in the developing central nervous system (CNS) is marked by dramatic changes in gene expression programs. Those changes in gene expression are accompanied by changes in histone modifications at individual promoters, gene bodies and enhancers as well as changes in the higher order structure of the chromatin. Once established during development, the cell-type specific epigenome of differentiated cells is thought to be relatively stable. Indeed, one of the major barriers to reprogramming differentiated cells such as neurons into induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) is the reversal of the epigenetic landscape that was established during differentiation. For some cell types, the cell-type specific epigenetic programs are not completely erased during reprogramming and the resulting induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) retain an epigenetic memory of their cellular origins. The dynamic changes in the epigenome that occur during development are also important for human disease. Childhood cancers are developmental tumors that arise during critical periods of development across diverse tissues. In a childhood cancer of the developing retina called retinoblastoma, it was shown the epigenetic reprogramming is required for tumorigenesis and this led to the identification of a novel druggable target for this ocular tumor. However, it is not known if the epigenetic changes that a...
Source: Molecular Cancer Research - Category: Cancer & Oncology Authors: Tags: Pediatric Cancers and Development: Oral Presentations - Invited Abstracts Source Type: research