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Cancer therapy resistance: chasing epigenetics

Nature Medicine volume 20, pages 340–341 (2014)Cite this article

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Christopher R Vakoc

Drug resistance limits the efficacy of all cancer monotherapies, a reflection of the diverse strategies employed by cancer cells to overcome selective pressure. Such resistance mechanisms can have a genetic basis but can also occur in an epigenetic manner. For example, human lung cancers can evade epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) inhibition by transdifferentiating into a lineage that no longer requires EGFR for survival2. Furthermore, many cancer cell lines are phenotypically heterogeneous and dynamically switch between drug-sensitive and drug-tolerant states through reprogramming of chromatin structure and signaling cascades3,4. Approaches that overcome the epigenetic forms of therapy resistance have yet to be successful clinically.

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Competing interests

C.R.V. is a consultant for Tensha Therapeutics. The other authors declare no conflict of interest.

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Cancer therapy resistance: chasing epigenetics. Nat Med 20, 340–341 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1038/nm.3528

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