Health Meaning

heart attacks kill because they are strangling the heart muscle cell destruction and preventing the body to pump properly. Now, researchers reveal they have nudged cells in mouse hearts to repair some of the damage, a finding that could lead to new treatments for heart attacks in humans.

The researchers are probing several ways to encourage the heart to settle. Last year, for example, cardiac stem cell biologist Deepak Srivastava of the Gladstone Institute of Cardiovascular Disease in San Francisco, California, and colleagues inserted extra copies of the three genes in the cells of scar tissue, trigger to turn into cardiomyocytes, or heart muscle cells. Another approach is to use so-called progenitor cells, non-resident cells in the heart that are similar to stem cells can mature into cardiomyocytes. The challenge was to identify progenitor cells in adults and to determine whether they could provide enough fresh muscle.

Paul Riley stem cell biologist at University College London and his colleagues measured the capacity of progenitor cells in the epicardium, outer layer of the heart. During embryonic development, progenitor cells there is an important source of cardiomyocytes. In adults, however, the cells seem to relax. To regain youthful vigor of cells, the researchers injected mice with thymosin β4, a compound already undergoing clinical trials as a treatment for heart attack because it helps cardiomyocytes survive and stimulates the growth of new blood vessels. The researchers then mimicked a heart attack in animals by ligating one of the arteries that supply blood to the heart, wounding some of the muscle.

Unlike control mice that do not seem to fashion new cardiomyocytes, animals given thymosin β4 is part of the cells, reports the online team today Nature . The cells infiltrated the area left damaged by simulated heart attack and engaged with other cardiomyocytes physically and electrically, allowing them to beat. They also appeared to prevent some of the damage that can result from a heart attack. Magnetic resonance imaging scans showed that the hearts of mice that had received thymosin β4 had smaller scars and were able to pump more blood with each contraction than were the hearts of untreated rodents. "Having a source of cells that could repair the muscles and blood vessels is important resident," said Riley.

Because thymosin β4 was not very effective, less than 1% of progenitor cells transformed into cardiomyocytes-researchers are trying to identify other more potent molecules. Drugs that prod progenitor cells to create new muscle could benefit patients who have suffered heart attacks. But they might work better if patients took the medication preventively to initiate action progenitor cells, said Riley. It provides that persons who are susceptible to heart attacks, perhaps because they have high cholesterol and other risk factors, take regular doses, keeping their progenitor cells in a state of readiness.

The study "provides strong evidence that there is a population of cells in the epicardium that can turn into new muscles," Srivastava said. "The real question is how robust is the process [of cell transformation] and how can it be improved. "he recommends that researchers are also investigating whether the cells can rebuild the heart muscle during heart failure, a condition that affects about 5 million US and causes the body weaken gradually.

Spanish molecular biologist María Blasco, 45, will take the leadership of Spanish National Centre for cancer research (CNIO) in Madrid, where she is now a deputy director. The announcement, made today by the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation, ending a search for 2 years that has become mired in controversy over the current director, Mariano Barbacid.

Blasco, was chosen unanimously by the board this morning CNIO, has a PhD in Molecular Biology Center Severo Ochoa in Madrid. She did a postdoc at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory in New York with the Nobel prize and Carol W. Greider joined CNIO in 03 to head the Group telomeres and telomerase and leading center of Molecular Oncology Program. She became Deputy Director for Basic Research 2 years later.

Blasco is best known for his research on enzymes that maintain telomere-repeat styling DNA sequences of the chromosomes and their role in cancer and aging. She co-founded a company called Life Length, which measures the telomeres for patients, companies and researchers.

Replacing founding director Mariano Barbacid, which in September 09 announced his intention to resign and focus on research, was not easy. A search by an international jury gave two foreign candidates and two others inside the CNIO came to an abrupt end last month when the international group resigned because the candidates' names were leaked to the press. The leaks occurred during a high-profile spat on Barbacid intend to establish a business partnership to fund the development of an anticancer drug, which the Ministry has declared illegal.

José Jerónimo Navas Palacios, who heads the Health Institute Carlos III in Madrid and as vice president of the CNIO Board, oversaw the selection process, said it is " satisfied "with the appointment. Blasco 'scientific relevance appropriate, sufficient knowledge of the context and adequate international relations, "said Navas Palacios. It is "the best [director] for our project."

But others hoped an outsider at the helm, if only to make a break with the reputation of Spanish science of institutional nepotism. Manel Esteller the director of epigenetics and cancer biology program at the Bellvitge biomedical research Institute of Barcelona, ​​said it was "good news" that a woman has been elevated to a higher position, but is said Blasco "not the right person for the job. "Esteller would have preferred an external candidate selected by the international group The appointment of Blasco" is a typical image of the Hispanic inbreeding, "he wrote in an e-mail to Science Insider

A drug approved for the treatment of cancer and prevent rejection of transplanted organs can also help children with progeria, a disease that resembles accelerated aging and typically kills those who are afflicted by their teenagers-a new study. The effects of the drug on the cells of these children is so striking, and the condition so devastating, that doctors and scientists are wondering whether to proceed immediately to a clinical trial.

Hutchinson-Gilford progeria syndrome (HGPS), commonly known as Progeria is an extremely rare genetic disease, fewer than 100 children are currently diagnosed with it worldwide. He gained notoriety because children, despite health research for the first year or life, develop apparent features associated with age such as stiff skin, hair loss, brittle bones and cardiovascular disease. The condition has remained almost a complete mystery until 03 when two groups, one including geneticist Francis Collins, now director of the National Institutes of Health, and physician-scientist Leslie Gordon, a parent of a boy with HGPS, identified a progeria mutation in children.

The genetic defect disrupts the treatment of a protein called lamin A, which helps shape the nucleus of a cell. Accordingly, cells produce large amounts of an abnormal form of lamin A Progerin dubbed, and the blister pack and generally oval loop core. Somehow Progerin accumulation disrupts the development of most of children's tissues. Three drugs that hinder the creation of progerin are already tested on 50 children with progeria.

search for a drug that works through a different mechanism that could complement other experimental drugs, several groups studying progeria have recently turned rapamycin, a compound having various actions, including the suppression of the immune system . In 09, a research team has shown that administration of rapamycin may extend the life span of mice.

Could it therefore also help children with progeria? When children with the condition of cells exposed to the drug in lab dishes, they eliminate their abnormal accumulation of progerin and survive longer, Collins, Kan Cao of the National Research Institute on the Human Genome and colleagues today reported Science Translational Medicine . In addition, the nuclei in progeria cells go from "pretty darn abnormal" to "very beautiful, ovoid happy future," says Collins.

Normal cells are small amounts of progerin, convince many researchers that it contributes to natural aging, and the team found that rapamycin also promoted clearance of the protein in them. rapamycin, Collins says, inhibits the activity of a protein called mTOR and thereby promoting a process called autophagy that removes abnormal proteins, including progerin. This apparently enough for the kernel to return to its normal shape.

"This is a new approach worth pursuing" for the treatment of progeria, said Collins. "We now have another way to attack progerin," agreed Gordon, who was not affiliated with the study, but is the medical Director of the Progeria Research Foundation, of which she and her husband started and partially funded the work of rapamycin. "This is fantastic news."

The difficult question now is the speed to move, given the short life of children with progeria. Some scientists call for further study. "What is lacking is evidence that rapamycin is beneficial in a mouse model of the disease, which is an essential step before considering clinical trials," says molecular biologist Brian Kennedy, president of the Buck Institute research on aging in Novato, California. He noted that purely cellular studies in the new paper are difficult to reconcile with the results of a strain of mice engineered to have progeria. In these rodents, autophagy is already in overdrive, so Kennedy is skeptical that rapamycin could help these animals-and therefore children with progeria.

Everyone does not share the reluctance of Kennedy. Gordon, for example, noted that rapamycin has well known effects and relatively small side and has been tested in many children already, she and the other running from progeria current clinical trial are "seriously considering "the opportunity to begin to give an oral derivative of rapamycin children. Gordon said that progeria mouse model that worries Kennedy may not be the most accurate overview of the human condition. And although some rapid tests for the toxicity of rapamycin in mice with a form of progeria is justified, "I'm not sure we would have to wait 2-3 years for an efficiency study in mice, " she says.

Kennedy admits he would understand if Gordon, whose son progeria is now 14 years old, and other physicians pushed forward with a clinical trial. "The disease is so severe that it is an opening to try a drug in children," he said.

Centuries after the British government offered up to £ 20,000 for those who have developed a precise method for determining longitude British cabinetmaker a ship won with his invention of great price-clock precision for scientific or technical achievements are sexy again. The X-Prize Foundation is largely responsible for this renewed interest, thanks to its multi-million dollar price of incentives for radical breakthroughs in areas such as DNA sequencing and human spaceflight. US government agencies, however, are also getting in on the act. NASA and the Department of Defense, for example, have launched several prices to stimulate progress in research or to perform technical objectives. But what about Premier America funder of biomedical research, the National Institutes of Health (NIH)?

NIH has so far sat on the bench the game price, but there are clues that could soon change. Yesterday, in Bethesda, Maryland, NIH campus, several parts of the body held a meeting, Crowdsourcing: The Art and Science of Open Innovation, in which various government and private organizations that provide research prices described their success, prompting speculation over whether NIH do the same. And James Anderson, NIH Director for the Division of Program Coordination, Planning and Strategic Initiatives, said in his closing speech to the audience that the NIH Director Francis Collins was about to sign documents that would permit ensure NIH meets the America COMPETES Act, which gives federal agencies the authority to provide financial incentives for researchers to address high-risk, high-reward to research questions that escaped platforms more traditional funding, such as grants and sponsored research. Yet Anderson declined to say how long it might be until NIH begins offering such prices. "We ask people to be patient," Anderson said. "But we are making progress."

The America COMPETES law was passed in 07 and was reauthorized in December. Under his leadership, federal agencies describe a problem they would like solved on Challenge.gov, then open the competition to individuals or teams, evaluate results, and the awarding of the prize money to those who turn in the best solution. Offering price has several advantages over the grant or sponsorship search said Dwayne Spradlin, president of InnoCentive, an online platform that hosts as Challenge.gov research competitions. Funders get lots of fresh eyes to the problem for less money than it usually costs to provide a subsidy. " Distribute the risk and accelerate research and development in the process, "said Spradlin.

incentives search was just a theme to the crowdsourcing conference, which also explored other ways scientists and scientific organizations could take advantage of the processing power of lots of loans brains. guru Tim O'Reilly of O'Reilly Media explained how patient-centered Web sites such as PatientsLikeMe.com collect massive amounts of data on patient symptoms, environments, lifestyles, and states emotional. Although the data are not collected from standard scientific way, he said, scientists have yet to adopt such a massive amount of information and mine for new ideas. "We are building a global brain that exists on the Internet," he said.

Adrien Treuille, a computer scientist at Carnegie Mellon University, added that this new global brain also like to have a little fun while it's science. He and his colleagues are the creators of two online games, Foldit and Eterna, which simulate protein folding and structural mapping of RNA, respectively. These games have proven surprisingly popular among the players and nonresearchers solutions often surprised scientists because their creativity is not constrained by what they think the correct answer should look like, said Treuille. And this is precisely the value of crowdsourcing, he notes. "It is not a linear thing to engage the public in science," said Teuille. "It is incredibly non-linear and all kinds of crazy things out, some of them brilliant."

In most people in the Middle East and North Africa who have sex with men (MSM ) face severe stigma and harsh laws, creating a hidden population that researchers of HIV / AIDS and social workers have difficulty reaching. Now, review the most comprehensive yet in the spread of HIV among MSM living in the region reveals that there are several hidden epidemics, too, with a prevalence of up to 28% in some groups.

Epidemiologists Ghina Mumtaz and Laith Abu-Raddad, both of Weill Cornell Medical College in Qatar, conducted the study, over the past eight years has chosen the highest quality reports on HIV / AIDS they have found in the scientific literature, government documents and the non-governmental organization (NGO) surveys. Although the discovery of widespread HIV among MSM in the region could reflect a longstanding epidemic that surfaced only now because of the increased research, Mumtaz and Abu-Raddad argue that this is not a case of bias detection. "The data suggest that these epidemics are recent," said Mumtaz, who explains that several countries have documented a steady increase in prevalence over time.

As they detail in the August issue of PLoS Medicine , less than 25% of MSM in most places has reported consistent condom use, and exchange of sex for money was common, as is sex with females. Although that MSM generally knew about HIV, many do not think they were at risk of being infected. a key message of the study is that although the dominant Muslim region has a strong conservative, about 2% to 3% of men in the two dozen countries analyzed have anal sex with men, which is similar worldwide.

"We are all pretty much the same thing," said epidemiologist David Celentano of public health Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School in Baltimore, Maryland. "Everyone says Muslims will never tolerate that, but if you come back in ancient history, there are many same-sex sex. People profess to have these strong beliefs, but do not govern their behavior at all . "

study also challenges what the authors call "widespread perception" that the epidemiological data of HIV / AIDS on MSM in the region are "virtually absent." Reading documents in English, Arabic and French, they concluded that there is "considerable and increasing epidemiological evidence on HIV and risk behavior among MSM in this region." Although the quality of the studies varied, they found "significant improvement" in data collection since 03 in Morocco, Egypt, Lebanon, Iran, Tunisia, Sudan and Pakistan. Several countries also have mandatory HIV testing for all workers who want to work abroad or for couples seeking a marriage license. "This is really a case of if you do not try, you can not find it," says Celentano. "I think these guys did a great job digging."

Although the data can provide data on the exact prevalence of HIV, the authors stress that the studies they relied on often sampled most visible MSM populations, which may introduce bias. In particular, the highest documented prevalence occurred among transgender sex workers and homeless MSM. Data can also tilt the men who consider themselves gay, underestimation of HIV in the population of men, especially if they are the "top" in anal sex with a man, do not identify themselves as homosexuals.

Abu-Raddad said the advent of the Internet and the growth of civil society and activism in many Arab countries is that it is easier to study HIV among MSM. "It was ten years ago, people thought it would be impossible to work with MSM in this region is the MSM would be willing to participate in because of fear studies," he said. "But NGOs have created bridges between governments and populations. NGOs rely on recruiting peer and not have to find these groups. They come to them. "

They are not quite psychic yet, but the machines are better at reading your mind. Researchers have invented a new noninvasive method for recording brain activity patterns and use them to direct a robot. Scientists hope that technology will give "locked in" patients-those too disabled to communicate with the outside world ability to interact with others and even give the illusion of being physically present, or "telepresent" with friends and family.

Back brain-machine interface systems allowed people to control robots, sliders, or prostheses with conscious thought, but they often take a lot of effort and concentration, says José del R. Millán, a biomedical engineer at the Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) in Switzerland, which develops brain-machine interface systems that do not require to be implanted in the brain. the the objective of Millán is to make the control easier than driving a car on a road. a partially autonomous robot would allow a user to stop focusing on the tasks that he or she would normally unconsciously, as following a person or avoid running into walls. But if the robot encounters an unexpected event and needs to make a split second decision, the thoughts of the user can replace the artificial intelligence robot.

To test their technology, Millán and his colleagues have created a robot telepresent by modifying a commercially available bot called Robotino. The robot looks a bit like a platform on three wheels and can avoid obstacles on its own using infrared sensors. On top of the robot, the researchers placed a laptop running Skype, an audio and video Internet chat system, a wireless Internet connection. This allowed the human controller to see where the robot was going, and because the laptop also showed a video of the user, he allowed others to interact with the user as if the user was really there. The user also wore a small cap of electroencephalogram (EEG) electrodes, which measured brain activity. This system translates the EEG signals in the navigation instructions and transmits them in real time for the robot.

EEG patterns for movement and navigation are similar from person to person and group Millán has shown that after a little practice, a healthy person can share control with the robot with very little effort. But would a bedridden patient, who has not used its members for years, have the same pattern of brain waves and be able to control the robots as effectively?

The researchers recruited two patients whose lower body was paralyzed and had been bedridden for 6 or 7 years. The researchers trained the patients to control the robot for 1 hour per week for 6 weeks. With instructions transmitted via a wireless connection, patients should not leave the hospital and were able to control the robot in the laboratory at EPFL Millán, 100 kilometers. At the end of the training period, the researchers asked subjects to drive the robot to different objectives, such as furniture, people, and small objects around the lab for 12 minutes.

The disabled patients performed as well as healthy subjects, Millán and colleagues report this week at the IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Conference Society in Boston. When the researchers turned off the shared control, forcing topics to focus continuously on the control of the robot, the subjects took a lot longer to navigate the maze when they shared control.

Millan said he was not terribly surprised that disabled people can control the robot, which previous research using brain scans showed that even patients who have been paralyzed since birth can imagine yet moving their limbs. But he was surprised how quickly they learned. He now hopes to involve more bedridden patients, including locked-in patients in the study. He also sees future applications for the brain-machine interface shared control, such as changes to allow a user to control a prosthesis or a wheelchair. Researchers can possibly add an arm current telepresent robot to enable it to grasp objects.

Neuroengineer Jose Carmena of the University of California, Berkeley, said the approach of Millán "a lot of novelty" in the way it integrates both natural and artificial systems. There are a few drawbacks he said, in a system that uses a hat instead of a device implanted directly in the brain, such as background signals that the cap can pick up. But for this application, he says, it is "a interesting avenue for telepresence. "

Millán said the bedridden patients were delighted to participate in the study. "This opens a new possibility for the families," he said, which could interact with their bedridden loved ones on a video connection without having to sit at a computer. But would the disabled patients families are creeped out by a follow robot in the kitchen while they make dinner? "well, that's something we're going to ask," he said.

Does fatherhood make men Wimpy? Are there disadvantages to take folic acid? And how can Glowing cats shed light on Aids? Science Online News Editor David Grimm chats about these stories and more with Science Editor 's online Stewart Wills.

( Listen to the full Science podcast and podcasts.)

Yet another large study aimed at preventing the spread of HIV by giving antiretroviral uninfected women (ARV) pills had to redesign the trial because of surprising and negative intermediate results.

the Microbicide Trials Network (MTN), which is funded by the National Institutes of Health, today announced that it has decided to stop one arm of a study involving over 5,000 women in South Africa, Zimbabwe and Uganda. The decision follows an interim review of the current trial by an independent supervisory board, which found that the drug tenofovir when used as pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) had less effect in protecting women than expected. Although the board did not offer details on how many women have been infected on the drug compared to placebo, they said continue with tenofovir arm was "futile" because he would not give significant results. They do not give numbers because the parts of the trial are ongoing, testing other prevention measures.

Sharon Hillier, who heads the MTN, said his team is "extremely disappointed" and that he personally is humbled and a little confused. "I have to stop guessing how the study will turn out," says Hillier. "It breaks your heart."

The study, vaginal and oral interventions to control the epidemic (VOICE), began in September 09 and should end up about 1 year from now. MTN VOICE designed to compare three different strategies for PrEP: pills tenofovir, tenofovir in vaginal gel and pills Truvada (a combination of tenofovir and a second antiretroviral drug, emtricitabine). Tenofovir gel and pills Truvada arm of the study is still ongoing. "Research on HIV prevention is a constant reminder of what we do not know," said Mitchell Warren, head of the Coalition for the Defence of vaccine against AIDS, which closely follows the PrEP studies.

The new results particularly baffled people who follow this promising prevention strategy because it was mixed but encouraging results in two similar studies presented earlier this year. In April, researchers stopped a study called FEM-PrEP which evaluated Truvada pills in nearly 2,000 young women not infected in South Africa, Kenya and Tanzania after an interim analysis revealed that the pursuit was futile. But in July, the first glimpse of infection in a study that assessed by taking either tenofovir or pills Truvada as PrEP was found that both worked well in women. A key difference in the second trial called Partners PrEP, is it involved more than 4,700 couples in Kenya and Uganda in which one partner has tested positive at first, while both VOICE and FEM-PrEP mainly young women enrolled single.

Timothy Mastro, who helped lead the FEM-PrEP trunk to FHI 360 in Durham, NC, said teasing why the same drugs fail in a population and work in another, it will analyze two main factors: the biology and behavior. Studies have shown that small amounts of antiretroviral drugs taken orally reach the vaginal mucosa. This protection may have been submerged in VOICE and FEM-PrEP if male partners had higher levels of HIV than those of PrEP partners. Or maybe women Partners PrEP had more motivation to "adhere" to study protocols and take pills every day as directed, because they knew for certain dissimilar women in the other two trials that they had sex with a man infected with HIV. Men infected Partners PrEP may also be encouraged to join their uninfected partners. "It is very important for our two groups to compare data and study populations," said Mastro.

VOICE Hillier said she is looking forward to the group of Mastro complete their detailed analysis of the factors behind the disappointing results of FEM-PrEP. "There will not be a simple answer about who should get PrEP, and it is very clear that different people can get different results," she said.

Hillier emphasizes that these conflicting results emphasize that there is still much to learn about PrEP, which also worked well in gay men in another large recent study. This analysis should be done before those responsible for public health are making recommendations for its use. "The data are telling us something very important," said Hillier. "People thought that ARVs would be magical, and you could sprinkle them there and people use them all the time and they prevent all infections. These studies teach us loud and clear that when and how they will work raises very nuanced questions. And these studies teach us things we do not want to know. "

VOICE hopes to have the results for the other two arms of the study by the end of next year.

National Health fundamental research Institutes (NIH) Institute has a new director. Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) cell biologist Chris Kaiser will take the $ 2 billion mark National Institute of General Medical Sciences (NIGMS) next spring.

Kaiser is now president of the MIT Department of Biology, where he uses yeast to study how proteins fold and transport molecules inside cells. He will replace the acting director NIGMS Judith Greenberg, who was filling in for Jeremy Berg left in July.

He will join the fourth largest NIH institute at a time of increasingly tight budgets. Maintaining basic R01 research grant NIGMS and the strengthening of the review process by peers are his priorities, he said Science Insider. It also plans to continue the practice of Berg blogs about how NIGMS makes funding decisions. "It is feared massive near panic in universities about getting examined subsidies and so on," says Kaiser. "It is very important, even if times become more difficult for stakeholders to understand how money is being deployed. "

Kaiser also plans to move forward with a new strategic plan for NIGMS training programs. in the implementation of the plan, it intends to draw on the lessons of the expansion, the proportion of third minority undergraduate students in the department of biology at MIT from 5% to 18% over 6 years. a key step was to reach out to mentors faculty historically minority colleges, who then suggested that their best students consider MIT for graduate school. NIGMS could seek ways to encourage these interactions, Kaiser said. "the real problem is that there are actually a huge talent pool of minority students there, but they are a step in applying for a place like MIT. "

A new approach for the treatment of lung cancer, which aims to activate dormant blocking tumor genes has shown promising results in a small clinical trial. The 45 patients on average lived a few months longer than they would have without treatment, and tumors of two patients almost completely disappeared. The results suggest that the so-called epigenetic drugs worth exploring further, say the authors.

Most drugs against cancer attempt to kill tumor cells. "Epigenetic" drugs are supposed to work differently, resetting the genetic activity of a tumor cell so that it divides rather than simply eliminate the cell. Epigentics the term refers to chemical modifications of DNA that control gene activity, turning their expression on or off, for example; into a kind of epigenetic conscripts methyl chemicals can attach to DNA and block of being transcribed into a protein. In many types of cancer, for example methylation silenced suppressor genes tumor.

cancer biologists such as Stephen Baylin of Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, Maryland, suggested that drugs that strip the methyl groups from DNA could prevent cancer cells from growing by changing these tumor suppressor genes back. In fact, a drug called azacytidine demethylates that DNA has been approved since 04 to treat a type of blood cancer. However, tests in the 1970s and found that 80 azacytidine was too toxic for patients with solid tumors.

But Baylin and other Hopkins researchers recently decided to see if azacytidine could help patients with solid cancers when given in low doses strong enough to reset the DNA methylation patterns, but not kill cells. Led by Charles Rudin oncologist, the team identified 45 patients with lung cancer at an advanced stage where other therapies had failed and were given low doses of azacytidine and another epigenetic drug that opens the package protein around the DNA.

The study was a modest success. The average patient lived 6.4 months - only 2 months longer than they would have without treatment. However, tumors of two or almost completely disappeared patients. Although their cancer returned later, one of these patients is still alive after 2.5 years. And four patients who do not do well on epigenetic therapy responded strongly to cancer drugs subsequent standard; Both lived 4 years, well beyond what was expected in view of their cancer.

Why some patients are much more successful than others? The Hopkins group speculates the reason is that tumors only a few patients were driven by epigenetics. They tested the tumor DNA from 26 of 45 patients for four genes which when methylated, predict a tumor of the lung will soon grow back after surgery. Patients whose tumors had at least two methylated genes before treatment, then lost methyl groups lived on average 10 months, four months longer than patients without that pattern, according to the study, published today in cancer Discovery .

"there is not a home run, but there is a real input in this area," says Baylin. The results suggest that doctors could test the models of patient gene methylation to know if their tumors can be treated with epigenetic drugs, he said. His team is also intrigued by the suggestion that epigenetic drugs can first tumor cells to better respond to other drugs, a possibility that they hope will be tested in another trial.

Two researchers not involved in the study described as "revolutionary" during a press conference today. "I think this finding is incredibly exciting and will trigger whirlwind of activity, research in the lung cancer community, "said Jeffrey Engelman oncologist at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston.

Others are cautious. Molecular biologist Frank Lyko the German Research on Cancer in Heidelberg agrees that the study "strongly suggest" that the combo of epigenetic drugs work on lung cancer. But he said more accurate measurements of patient tumor methylation patterns are needed to definitively show that the drugs worked through epigenetic effects, not another mechanism. The analytical results reported in the paper, he said, are not "convincing".