Klin Onkol 2008; 21(Suppl 1): 217-219.
Epigenetic changes such as histone acetylation and di-methylation at promoters and coding regions of genes which play an important role in the pathogenesis of multiple myeloma (MM) can be analyzed using methods such as chromatin immunoprecipitation (ChIP) in combination with polymerase chain reaction (PCR). We have studied epigenetic changes in MM cells treated by selected cytostatics
that are used in MM therapy. ChIP-on-chip or with microarrays (chip) analyses of histone acetylation enabled us to study epigenetic status of hundreds of genes after cytostatic treatment. This type of epigenetic modifi cation is associated with increased gene expression. We have applied the ChIP-PCR and ChIP-on-chip methods to study epigenetics in MM cell lines as well as in clinical samples.
Our experiments have led to the development of a useful method of assessing the therapeutic potential of cytostatic agents which have a signifi cant impact on the histone code.
