Anal cancer numbers are growing in women, men who have sex with men, and people with HIV; these stats call for a less invasive, and inexpensive way to diagnose anal lesions. Now, researchers at the Queen Mary University of London have identified two biomarker genes that can accurately indicate whether a patient's lesions will progress to anal cancer. The study, published in Oncotarget, found all of the anal cancers showed the presence of specific epigenetic methylation markers on the patients' EPB41L3 gene — a tumor suppressor gene — and in certain regions of their viral HPV genome.
In other words, the researchers found specific genetic markers in the patients' epigenetics, which describes the naturally-occurring chemical "tags" on genes that control whether or not they are switched on. Here, the team developed a test, based on the patient's epigenetics, to identify those with the…
