epigenetics - your DNA is not your destiny

Ich lagere die Epigeneticsreihe aus dem CC aus, um das Topic unter verschiedenen Aspekten intensiver und extensiver verfolgen zu können. Die Gen / Umwelt Debatte ist zuende. Die richtige Antwort lautet auf 'weder noch'. Epigenetics setzt auf der Erkenntnis auf, dass die Palette an in DNA festgelegten genetischen Programmen ins unendliche tendiert und die Entscheidung darüber, welches unter ihnen konkret zum Zuge kommen kann, von sog Genschaltern getroffen werden, die massgeblich auf 'Erfahrung' und 'Information' reagieren.

Daraus erwächst ein Hebel, alle möglichen Krankheitsverläufe und Alterungsprozesse kausal beeinflussen zu können. Der Impact der epigenetischen Revolution ist dabei noch gar nicht abzusehen, wird aber vermutlich gigantisch ausfallen, nur noch vergleichbar mit der grünen postfordischen Produktionsweise, die menschliche Arbeit auf ein Minimum reduzieren wird. Die mRNA-Impfstoffe sind die Vorstufe dieser Revolution, ihr Einsatz beispielsweise bei Krebs oder Autoimmunerkrankungen wie MS und Rheuma nähert sich bereits der Spruchreife.

bevor die Euphorie mit uns durchgeht.

Niemals den Tag vor dem Abend loben.

:-)

Mancher Hype ging schneller vorbei als er begann.

 

Transgenerational epigenetic inheritance is the transmission of epigenetic markers from one organism to the next (i.e., from parent to child) that affects the traits of offspring without altering the primary structure of DNA (i.e. the sequence of nucleotides)[2]:168[3]—in other words, epigenetically. The less precise term "epigenetic inheritance" may cover both cell–cell and organism–organism information transfer. Although these two levels of epigenetic inheritance are equivalent in unicellular organisms, they may have distinct mechanisms and evolutionary distinctions in multicellular organisms. Environmental factors can induce the epigenetic marks (epigenetic tags) for some epigenetically influenced traits,[2] while some marks are heritable,[2] thus leading some to consider that with epigenetics, modern biology no longer rejects the inheritance of acquired characteristics (Lamarckism) as strongly as it once did.[3]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transgenerational_epigenetic_inheritance

Cancer epigenetics is the study of epigenetic modifications to the DNA of cancer cells that do not involve a change in the nucleotide sequence, but instead involve a change in the way the genetic code is expressed. Epigenetic mechanisms are necessary to maintain normal sequences of tissue specific gene expression and are crucial for normal development.[1] They may be just as important, or even more important, than genetic mutations in a cell's transformation to cancer. The disturbance of epigenetic processes in cancers, can lead to a loss of expression of genes that occurs about 10 times more frequently by transcription silencing (caused by epigenetic promoter hypermethylation of CpG islands) than by mutations. As Vogelstein et al. point out, in a colorectal cancer there are usually about 3 to 6 driver mutations and 33 to 66 hitchhiker or passenger mutations.[2]

However, in colon tumors compared to adjacent normal-appearing colonic mucosa, there are about 600 to 800 heavily methylated CpG islands in promoters of genes in the tumors while these CpG islands are not methylated in the adjacent mucosa.[3][4][5] Manipulation of epigenetic alterations holds great promise for cancer prevention, detection, and therapy.[6][7] In different types of cancer, a variety of epigenetic mechanisms can be perturbed, such as silencing of tumor suppressor genes and activation of oncogenes by altered CpG island methylation patterns, histone modifications, and dysregulation of DNA binding proteins. Several medications which have epigenetic impact are now used in several of these diseases.   https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cancer_epigenetics

Epigenetics hat die Frage bereits mit Ja beantwortet. Das logische Ziel alle epigenetisch ansetzenden Therapien lautet auf biologische Unsterblichkeit. Frecher als heutzutage wurde noch nie der Glaube an ein vermeintlich unvermeidbares Natur- resp Gottesschicksal herausgefordert. Die global konstant fallenden Fertilitätsraten sorgen in immer mehr Regionen schon jetzt für negatives Bevölkerungswachstum. Die nach oben offen ansteigenden Lebensspannen werden diesen Trend in Zukunft möglicherweise kompensieren können und die Sorge um einen 'Empty Planet' gegenstandslos machen.



Reversal of biological clock restores vision in old mice

That has raised the possibility that epigenetic changes contribute to the effects of ageing. “We set out with a question: if epigenetic changes are a driver of ageing, can you reset the epigenome?” says David Sinclair, a geneticist at Harvard Medical School in Boston, Massachusetts, and a co-author of the Nature study. “Can you reverse the clock?”

https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-020-03403-0

Reprogramming to recover youthful epigenetic information and restore vision

Ageing is a degenerative process that leads to tissue dysfunction and death. A proposed cause of ageing is the accumulation of epigenetic noise that disrupts gene expression patterns, leading to decreases in tissue function and regenerative capacity1,2,3. Changes to DNA methylation patterns over time form the basis of ageing clocks4, but whether older individuals retain the information needed to restore these patterns—and, if so, whether this could improve tissue function—is not known.

https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-020-2975-4