Patient Derived Organoids Shine a Light on Epigenetic Archetypes as Key Drivers of Cancer Drug Resistance LONDON, UK—How to stay ahead with treatment as cancer cells evolve to evade therapies and regimens coulld soon become a lot easier thanks to a new clarification of processes of cancer cell evolution that are not directly driven by DNA, but by the epigenetic processes that influence DNA expression. This is the message coming from research published in the journal Cancer Research by a group from the Institute of Cancer Research in London. The research promises to help doctors design individual protocols with a customised combination of agents that can be individualised not only for specificity ad efficacy but also in their sequencing and duration by refering to algothithms derived from the new knowledge of epigenetic cancer influencers.
Érica A. OliveiraPhD: How to Overcome Drug Resistance:Patient Derived Organoids Study Finds Epigenetic Pathways in Colorectal Cancer Interviews with: Érica A. Oliveira PhD, Senior Scientific Officer, Genomics and Evolutionary Dynamics, Institute of Cancer Research, Sutton, London UK And: Christopher Sng MD, Clinical Research Fellow, Institute of Cancer Research and Royal Marsden Hospital, London LONDON, UK—New insights into understanding and overcoming cancer drug resistance have been announced by researchers from the Institute of Cancer Research and the Royal Marsden Hospital in London. Érica Oliviera PhD, Senior Scientific Officer for Genomics and Evolutionary Dynamics, and Christopher Sng MD, Clinical Research Fellow, both at the Institute of Cancer Research and Royal Marsden Hospital in London, tell the Audio Journal of Oncology’s Peter Goodwin about their research on colorectal cancer using so-called “organoids” which perform like miniature replicas of human organs. The research shows how epigenetic factors control drug resistance by influencing DNA expression. The findings set the scene for combatting resistance by using, agents, protocols and combinations designed to modify these epigenetic pathways. The research is published in Cancer Research Volume 85 Issue 15, 1st August 2025: “Epigenetic Heritability of Cell Plasticity Drives Cancer Drug Resistance through a One-to-Many Genotype-to-Phenotype Paradigm” [Cancer Res (2025) 85 (15): 2921–2938] https://aacrjournals.org/cancerres/article/85/15/2921/763888/Epigenetic-Heritability-of-Cell-Plasticity-Drives [audio mp3="https://www.audiomedica.com/wp-content/2025/08/Erica-Oliveira-PRODUCTION-MASTER.mp3"][/audio] [caption id="attachment_4313" align="alignleft" width="240"]
