USC/Norris Cancer Center director to deliver Perspectives in Science seminar Nov. 21 in Pelton

Brief

Dr. Peter Jones, director of the USC/Norris Comprehensive Cancer Center in Los Angeles, will discuss the causative role that epigenetic silencing of tumor-suppressor genes plays in human carcinogenesis at the Nov. 21 Perspectives in Science seminar. Photo Courtesy of Dr. Peter Jones

Dr. Peter Jones, director of the USC/Norris Comprehensive Cancer Center in Los Angeles, is featured at a New Perspectives in Science seminar Tuesday, Nov. 21, at 4:30 p.m. in Pelton Auditorium. His presentation, "How the Epigenome Changes in Cancer," is the first of three presentations in the seminar series, which runs through April 2007.

Jones, a distinguished professor of Urology and Biochemistry and Molecular Biology at the Keck School of Medicine at the University of Southern California, is known for his studies on the molecular biology of cancer and of basic mechanisms of DNA methylation and its role in cancer and differentiation.

Jones will discuss the increasingly clear causative role that epigenetic silencing of tumor-suppressor genes plays in human carcinogenesis. Reversing chromatin structural changes, including DNA methylation, histone modification and nucleosomal, are occupancy important targets for epigenetic therapy. The role of epigenetic therapy in cancer therapeutics and prevention is likely to become more pronounced over the next few years.

In 1980, Jones made a seminal discovery that the drug 5-azacytidine could induce profound changes in gene expression while being a powerful inhibitor of DNA methylation. This discovery was the first to causally link DNA cytosine methylation, differentiation and gene expression, and played a large part in launching the field of epigenetics. The discovery of the mechanism of this drug led directly to the isolation of the first mammalian-determination gene and also to the discovery of a large number of tumor-suppressor genes that become epigenetically silenced in human cancer. The drug has now been approved for use in the treatment of myelodysplastic syndrome.

In addition, Jones' laboratory played a seminal role in the delineation of molecular pathways leading to human bladder cancer and to the realization that DNA methylation sites are hotspots for cancer-causing mutations. The journal Nature recognized Jones' work as a "milestone" in gene expression and cancer.

While this seminar series is open to all, the content is often scientifically technical.

Dr. Denise Galloway of the Human Biology Division will speak at the second seminar Feb. 15, followed by Dr. Shirley Ann Jackson April 12.

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