Although a new group of anticancer drugs known as “histon deacetylase inhibitors” has been found to work in some people, it is not known how they work.
In her doctoral dissertation, Mirjam Epping shows that the drugs activate vitamin A acid signaling, which occurs naturally in the body and results in differentiation (specialization) of cells, growth inhibition, or cell death. Epping discovered the gene for the receptor for vitamin A acid through a combination of genetics and molecular biology. In another part of her research, Epping analyzed the function of the PRAME gene. This gene is overactive in 88 to 95 percent of patients with melanoma, the most malignant form of skin cancer.
Epping discovered that in melanomas, PRAME blocks vitamin A acid signaling, which means the cancer cells do not stop growing. By deactivating PRAME, the melanoma cells once again responded to vitamin A acid.
Mirjam Epping will receive her PhD from Utrecht University on March 18. The title of her dissertation is “Functional genetic screens as tools to discover signaling pathways targeted by cancer drugs.”