Gastric cancer prevention by demethylation

Abstract

Niwa and colleagues report in this issue that treatment with the DNA demethylation agent 5-aza-2′-deoxycytidine decreases the incidence of gastric cancers in an animal model of Helicobacter pylori-promoted gastric cancer. This provocative study underscores the importance of changes in DNA methylation that contribute to the origin of inflammation-related cancers. The findings also raise the exciting possibility of cancer prevention by altering DNA methylation events early during tumorigenesis. © 2013 AACR.