Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jun 30, 2026

An Alternative Culture Method to Maintain Genomic Hypomethylation of Mouse Embryonic Stem Cells Using MEK Inhibitor PD0325901 and Vitamin C
Published on: June 1, 2018
Cancer genes hypermethylated in human embryonic stem cells
Vincenzo Calvanese1, Angelica Horrillo, Abdelkrim Hmadcha
1Cancer Epigenetics Group, Spanish National Cancer Research Centre, CNIO, Madrid, Spain.
Abstract:
Developmental genes are silenced in embryonic stem cells by a bivalent histone-based chromatin mark. It has been proposed that this mark also confers a predisposition to aberrant DNA promoter hypermethylation of tumor suppressor genes (TSGs) in cancer. We report here that silencing of a significant proportion of these TSGs in human embryonic and adult stem cells is associated with promoter DNA hypermethylation. Our results indicate a role for DNA methylation in the control of gene expression in human stem cells and suggest that, for genes repressed by promoter hypermethylation in stem cells in vivo, the aberrant process in cancer could be understood as a defect in establishing an unmethylated promoter during differentiation, rather than as an anomalous process of de novo hypermethylation.
Related Concept Videos
Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells
Somatic cells are...
Epigenetic Regulation
X-chromosome...
Epigenetic Regulation
Chromatin Modification in iPS Cells
Compact chromatin makes reprogramming difficult. Enzymes, such as histone demethylases and acetyltransferases, are often added during reprogramming to loosen the chromatin, making the DNA more accessible to transcription factors. Molecules that inhibit histone...
Somatic to iPS Cell Reprogramming
Cancers Originate from Somatic Mutations in a Single Cell

