Cancer: Integrated epigenomic analysis sheds light on role of BMP4 in regulating cisplatin sensitivity in gastric cancer

摘要

Bone morphogenetic protein 4 (BMP4) is involved in the development and progression of gastric cancer-a finding that could lead to targeted gastric cancer treatment and alternative treatment strategies for patients with tumours resistant to cisplatin.Although some mechanisms by which different cancers evoke cisplatin resistance have been elucidated, there is currently no way to determine accurately which patients with gastric cancer are most likely to respond to cisplatin. "Our overall goal was to identify biomarkers that might aid clinicians in tailoring gastric cancer treatments ... and highlight novel targeted strategies for overcoming cisplatin resistance in gastrointestinal cancer," explains Patrick Tan, corresponding author.The team's first step was to treat 20 gastric cancer cell lines with increasing cisplatin concentrations. The cell lines varied greatly in their level of cisplatin sensitivity, and extending drug incubation times generated similar results. Comparing the gene expression profiles of the four most cisplatin-sensitive and four most cisplatin-resistant cell lines identified 291 differentially expressed genes.