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Updated: Jul 7, 2026

Extraction of Histones from Clinical Specimens for Epigenetic Profiling by Mass Spectrometry
Published on: November 21, 2025
ERas oncogene expression and epigenetic regulation by histone acetylation in human cancer cells
Koichi Yasuda1, Masakazu Yashiro, Tetsuji Sawada
1Department of Surgical Oncology, Osaka City University Graduate School of Medicine, 1-4-3 Asahi-machi, Abeno-ku, Osaka 545-8585, Japan.
Abstract:
The ERas oncogene is a recently identified gene that supports the tumorigenic growth of embryonic stem (ES) cells by producing a constitutively active Ras protein. However the expression of ERas in cancer cells remains unclear. In this study, ERas mRNA expression was examined in 20 human cancer cell lines and 5 normal cell lines. ERas mRNA was found in 4 out of 7 colorectal carcinomas, 2 out of 6 pancreatic carcinomas, 1 out of 3 breast carcinomas, none in the esophageal carcinomas and none in the normal cells. Histone deacetylase inhibitor treatment resulted in ERas expression in 1 out of 3 colorectal carcinomas, 2 out of 2 breast carcinomas and 3 out of 3 normal cell lines. These findings suggested that the ERas oncogene might be associated with the development of human carcinomas. Up-regulation of ERas by histone acetylation might be one of the mechanisms reversing/overcoming the epigenetic transcriptional silencing of the ERas oncogenes.
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