An individual’s lifetime risk of cancer may be established before they are born, a study in mice has suggested.

Researchers, led by EARA member the Max Planck Institute of Immunobiology and Epigenetics (MPI-IE), Germany, and the Van Andel Institute, USA, studied the TRIM28 gene in mice and tracked them from birth to old age. The presence of this gene is known to be involved in ‘silencing’ cancer-related genes so that they are not ‘switched on’.

Cancer risk increases with age because of, among other factors, the accumulation of DNA mutations in cells over time, although not all abnormal cells will lead to cancer. However, errors in epigenetics – the processes that control how genes work – are also known to contribute to the risk.

The team saw that animals with reduced TRIM28 levels had either one of two distinct epigenetic states in cancer-related genes – one linked to a lower lifetime risk of cancer (where it is more likely to be a liquid tumour, such as leukaemia), and one a higher risk (where it is more likely to be a solid tumour, such as lung cancer).

These differences are established during development and could be detected from an early age. They were also found in different tissues in the body, suggesting that this epigenetics-linked risk could be common across cancers.

 J. Andrew Pospisilik, at Van Andel, said: “Our identification of these two epigenetically different states open the door to an entirely new world of study into the underpinnings of cancer.”