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Antitumor Therapies: even more selective if they work on DNA packaging

February 20, 2011
A study carried out at IFOM in Milan opens a new therapeutic prospective on fighting tumours: induction of tumour cell death by opening up the DNA “packaging” that blocks the cellular response to DNA damage. The hypothesis was tested by administering a class of antitumor drugs already in clinical use: inhibitors of HDACs, cellular factors that modulate chromatin structure, i.e. genome “packaging”. Although achieved in the field of basic research, these results open a new and interesting therapeutic prospective for the treatment of those tumours whose highly compacted chromatin make them less sensitive to radio- and chemo-therapies. These findings come from the research efforts of scientist Fabrizio d'Adda di Fagagna at IFOM in Milan with the collaboration of an international team of investigators. The study will appear online today in the prestigious journal Nature Cell Biology.
last update: 28/10/13