In yesterday's blog, we discussed malignant rhabdoid tumors as the prototypical epigenomic cancer (a malignant tumor characterized by massive alterations of the epigenomic landscape with preservation of chromosomal diploidy and genetic (DNA sequence) stability).
Malignant rhabdoid tumors are not the only example of an epigenomic cancer. Germ cell cancers also belong in this group. In the case of germ cell cancers, cell totipotency (ability to differentiate towards any embryonic or extra-embryonic lineage) is achieved after chromosomes lose their epigenetic programming (modifications) through a normal cellular process unique to germ cells: erasure.
I have prepared a separate web page that discusses some of the biological mysteries surrounding germ cell tumors; mysteries that have puzzled cancer researchers and pathologists for decades.
http://www.julesberm.info/factoids/germcell.htm
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-© 2010 Jules J. Berman
key words: cancer, neoplasia, epigenome, epigenetics, cytogenetics, neoplasms, precancer, tumor biology, tumour biology, carcinogenesis, cancer development, epigenomics
