Cancer

In this book the authors suggest that a 'dysmethylation syndrome' may affect the vital regulation of cell growth, metabolism and mitosis, and may then lead to cancer. These dysmethylations (which may be hyper- or hypo-methylations) affect not only the expression of the genes involved in growth and mitosis, but also the activity of enzymes such as phosphatase PP2A, which is assembled after methylation. This phosphatase limits the effects of the trophic kinases activated by growth factors or oncogenes. In the neurones, the syndrome associated with a deficit in the methylation of phosphatase and other substrates favours the accumulation of hyperphosphorylated proteins, as in Alzheimer's disease. This would mean that cancer and Alzheimer's disease, as well as Biermer's anaemia, are linked to cellular methylations.