Skip to main content
NIH Intramural Research Program, Our Research Changes Lives

Navigation controls

  • Search
  • Menu

Social follow links

  • Podcast
  • Instagram
  • Twitter
  • YouTube
  • LinkedIn

Main navigation

  • About Us
    • What Is the IRP?
    • History
    • Honors
      • Nobel Prize
      • Lasker Award
      • Breakthrough Prize
      • Shaw Prize
      • Presidential Early Career Award for Scientists and Engineers (PECASE)
      • Presidential Medal of Freedom
      • National Medal of Science
      • Searle Scholars
      • The National Academy of Sciences
      • The National Academy of Medicine
      • The National Academy of Engineering
      • The American Academy of Arts and Sciences
      • National Medal of Technology & Innovation
      • Samuel J. Heyman Service to America Medals
      • Crafoord Prize
      • Fellows of the Royal Society
      • Canada Gairdner Awards
    • Organization & Leadership
    • Our Programs
      • NCI
      • NEI
      • NHGRI
      • NHLBI
      • NIA
      • NIAAA
      • NIAID
      • NIAMS
      • NIBIB
      • NICHD
      • NIDA
      • NIDCD
      • NIDCR
      • NIDDK
      • NIEHS
      • NIMH
      • NIMHD
      • NINDS
      • NINR
      • NLM
      • CC
      • NCATS
      • NCCIH
    • Research Campus Locations
    • Contact Information
  • Our Research
    • Scientific Focus Areas
      • Biomedical Engineering & Biophysics
      • Cancer Biology
      • Cell Biology
      • Chemical Biology
      • Chromosome Biology
      • Clinical Research
      • Computational Biology
      • Developmental Biology
      • Epidemiology
      • Genetics & Genomics
      • Health Disparities
      • Immunology
      • Microbiology & Infectious Diseases
      • Molecular Biology & Biochemistry
      • Molecular Pharmacology
      • Neuroscience
      • RNA Biology
      • Social & Behavioral Sciences
      • Stem Cell Biology
      • Structural Biology
      • Systems Biology
      • Virology
    • Principal Investigators
      • View by Investigator Name
      • View by Scientific Focus Area
    • Accomplishments
      • View All Accomplishments by Date
      • View All Health Topics
      • The Body
      • Health & Wellness
      • Conditions & Diseases
      • Procedures
    • Accelerating Science
      • Investing in Cutting-Edge Animal Models
      • Creating Cell-Based Therapies
      • Advancing Computational and Structural Biology
      • Combating Drug Resistance
      • Developing Novel Imaging Techniques
      • Charting the Pathways of Inflammation
      • Zooming in on the Microbiome
      • Uncovering New Opportunities for Natural Products
      • Stimulating Neuroscience Research
      • Pursuing Precision Medicine
      • Unlocking the Potential of RNA Biology and Therapeutics
      • Producing Novel Vaccines
    • Research in Action
      • View All Stories
      • Battling Blood-Sucking Bugs
      • Unexpected Leads to Curb Addiction
      • Shaping Therapies for Sickle Cell Disease
      • The Mind’s Map Maker
    • Trans-IRP Research Resources
      • Supercomputing
    • IRP Review Process
    • Commercializing Inventions
  • NIH Clinical Center
    • Clinical Center Facilities
    • Clinical Faculty
    • Advancing Translational Science
    • Clinical Trials
      • Get Involved with Clinical Research
      • Physician Resources
  • News & Events
    • In the News
    • I am Intramural Blog
    • Speaking of Science Podcast
    • SciBites Video Shorts
    • The NIH Catalyst Newsletter
    • Events
  • Careers
    • Faculty-Level Scientific Careers
    • Trans-NIH Scientific Recruitments
      • Stadtman Tenure-Track Investigators
        • Science, the Stadtman Way
      • Lasker Clinical Research Scholars
      • Independent Research Scholar
    • Scientific & Clinical Careers
    • Administrative Careers
  • Research Training
    • Program Information
    • Training Opportunities
    • NIH Work/Life Resources
I am Intramural Blog

Epigenetics in Cancer Individualizes Environmental and Hereditary Risks

By IRP Staff Blogger

Tuesday, May 17, 2016

You may already know that diet, obesity, exposure to the sun, radiation, and hormones are just a few of the many risk factors associated with cancer diagnoses. But, do you know about other risk factors, especially those playing out through epigenetics, the molecular relationship between the environment and our DNA?

Cancer is one of the leading causes of death around the world. Therefore, the IRP focuses significant effort on research that expands understanding of how to prevent or treat the many causes of cancer. However, we cannot effectively treat varied types of cancers without understanding why and how cancerous cells behave on a molecular level.

One IRP researcher who leads intracellular explorations is Jack Taylor, M.D., Ph.D., head of the Molecular and Genetic Epidemiology Group at the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS). Dr. Taylor’s team works to understand how environmental exposures interact with human genes to initiate cancer formation.

Their research begins with the idea that exposures to environmental toxins cause genetic alterations that are then associated with cancer risk. In parallel, Dr. Taylor’s group also examines how hereditary genetic alterations influence individuals’ predispositions to developing cancer, with the hypothesis that specific alleles (different forms of a single gene) passed down from parent to child may be more likely to be affected by environmental toxins and, in turn, more likely to cause specific types of cancers.

In this short animation below, Dr. Taylor describes how DNA methylation may increase cancer risk in older people. He, with Zongli Xu, Ph.D., also of the NIEHS Epidemiology Branch, performed the finding’s underlying research and published it in the journal Carcinogenesis.

Many allelic variations that increase susceptibility to further mutation by environmental toxins are located on tumor suppressor genes and proto-oncogenes(PDF File) — the genes responsible for maintaining normal cellular growth cycles. Dr. Taylor and his team have determined that inherited mutations on these genes can negatively affect the capability of cells to repair DNA damage caused by environmental toxins. For example, one of his studies found that a group of cigarette smokers with a specific set of alleles are twice as likely to have bladder cancer as smokers with a different set of alleles, due to an inherited set of failing DNA repair mechanisms.

Using information about specific genetic abnormalities, Dr. Taylor’s team is now working to predict patients’ individualized risk based on their lifestyle choices and environment. Clinicians may then be able to determine which tests to run, what results to look for, and eventually the medical recommendations to make to their patients.

Determining the genetic susceptibilities that increase the risk of cancer might also have positive outcomes on public health programs. Knowing which genes result in increased cancer risk could encourage at-risk populations to be screened for specific genetic alterations, potentially saving many lives through the early detection and diagnosis of cancer.

Explore Scientific Focus Areas in the IRP to connect with Principal Investigators who focus on Cancer Biology, Epidemiology, or Genetics and Genomics.


Category: IRP Life
Tags: epigenetics, environment, cancer, risk factors, toxins, genetics, alleles, tumor suppressor genes, aging, proto-oncogenes, DNA damage, DNA repair

Related Blog Posts

  • IRP Breast Cancer Researchers Answer “Redditor” Questions
  • Four NIH IRP Researchers Elected to National Academy of Medicine
  • Breaking the Chains Forged in Life
  • Breast Cancer Awareness: How the IRP Recognizes October
  • Inspirations in Science and Medicine

This page was last updated on Monday, January 29, 2024

Blog menu

  • Contributing Authors
    • Anindita Ray
    • Brandon Levy
    • Devon Valera
    • Melissa Glim
  • Categories
    • IRP Discoveries
    • Profiles
    • Events
    • NIH History
    • IRP Life

Blog links

  • Subscribe to RSS feed

Get IRP Updates

Subscribe

  • Email
  • Print
  • Share Twitter Facebook LinkedIn

Main navigation

  • About Us
    • What Is the IRP?
    • History
    • Honors
    • Organization & Leadership
    • Our Programs
    • Research Campus Locations
    • Contact Information
  • Our Research
    • Scientific Focus Areas
    • Principal Investigators
    • Accomplishments
    • Accelerating Science
    • Research in Action
    • Trans-IRP Research Resources
    • IRP Review Process
    • Commercializing Inventions
  • NIH Clinical Center
    • Clinical Center Facilities
    • Clinical Faculty
    • Advancing Translational Science
    • Clinical Trials
  • News & Events
    • In the News
    • I am Intramural Blog
    • Speaking of Science Podcast
    • SciBites Video Shorts
    • The NIH Catalyst Newsletter
    • Events
  • Careers
    • Faculty-Level Scientific Careers
    • Trans-NIH Scientific Recruitments
    • Scientific & Clinical Careers
    • Administrative Careers
  • Research Training
    • Program Information
    • Training Opportunities
    • NIH Work/Life Resources
  • Department of Health and Human Services
  • National Institutes of Health
  • USA.gov

Footer

  • Home
  • Contact Us
  • IRP Brand Materials
  • HHS Vulnerability Disclosure
  • Web Policies & Notices
  • Site Map
  • Search