The Discovery of BAHD1 Protein May Help in Treating Cancer

Professors Hélène Bierne and Pascale Cossart from the Pasteur Institute teamed up with the French National Center for Scientific Research and the French Agricultural Research Institute and discovered a new protein called BAHD1, which is in charge with the DNA structure changes and silencing the genes’ expression.
The study funded by ERA-NET PathoGenoMics was published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Science, highlighting that the new protein enables new possibilities in the cancer and genetic disorders treatment.
This research is part of a project called Spatelis, which is an initiative of the European Comission, focusing on the human-pathogenic microorganisms based on the genome.

Scientists try to find ways to regulate the chromatin structure to avoid alteration that leads to the development of abnormalities, including cancers and neurological disorders. They have observed that even if all of our cells have the same genetic information, there are different cell types, and this is because each type of cell activates only a small number of genes based on regulating the chromatin structure.
The newly discovered BAHD1 protein behaves as a chromatin condensation machine and silences the gene active during the development of the embryo.

“The discovery of the BAHD1 complex contributes to the understanding of how genes in cells of our body are regulated,” said Dr. Marion Karrasch-Bott, Coordinator of ERA-NET PathoGenoMics. “Such knowledge could lead to new cancer therapies aimed at re-silencing inappropriately activated genes or to new prognosis markers

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