Mount SinaiMount Sinai Study Identifies New Gene That Drives Colon Cancer

The “super enhancer,” a complex region of DNA with a lot of transcriptional machinery that determines whether a cell is malignant, can be programmed by the environment around a colon cancer tumor for the first time, according to research. The PDZK1IP1 gene, which was not previously recognized as a cancer gene, is controlled by this super enhancer, which is the biggest 1-2% of all enhancers in the cell. Colon cancer growth was inhibited when PDZK1IP1 was deleted, indicating that PDZK1IP1 and its super enhancer may be targets for cancer treatments.