Work in the Division ties into ongoing projects within the Research Program in which epigenetic questions are addressed in epidemiological settings, but also into the work of many other groups at DKFZ, nationally at German universities, and internationally with research partners all over the world. This is best exemplified by the recent establishment of a DFG-funded Priority Program on ‘Epigenetic regulation of normal hematopoiesis and its dysregulation in myeloid neoplasia’, co-coordinated by Dr Plass and Dr Lübbert (University Freiburg), and by the participation of the Plass group in a Program Project grant (awarded to The Ohio State University) on ‘DNA methylation & chromatin modifications: mechanisms & applications in cancer therapy’.

• identified ID4 as a novel tumor suppressor gene in leukemia (Nat Genet 2005, 37:265-74).
• identified TCF21 as a novel tumor suppressor gene on 6q24 in lung cancer and head and neck cancer (Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 2006, 103:982-7).
• identified DAPK1 as a novel potential tumor suppressor gene in chronic lymphocytic  leukemia (Cell 2007, 129:879-90).
• demonstrated that epigenetic patterns depend on the genetic background and mutation spectrum in the genome (PLoS Genet 2007, 3:1757-69).
• demonstrated that epigenetic alterations in a mouse model for chronic lymphocytic leukemia recapitulate epigenetic alterations seen in human primary chronic lymphocytic leukemia cells and are an early event in leukemogenesis (Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 2009, 106:13433-8).
  

Tada Y, Brena RM, Hackanson B, Morrison C, Otterson GA, Plass C: Epigenetic modulation of tumor suppressor CCAAT/enhancer binding protein α activity in lung cancer. J Natl Cancer Inst 2006, 98:396-406

Raval A, Tanner S, Byrd J, Angerman E, Perko J, Chen S-S, Grever M, Lucas D, Matkovic J, Lin T, Kipps T, Murry F, Weisenburger D, Sanger W, Lynch J, Watson P, Jansen M, Yoshinaga Y, Rosenquist R, de Jong P, Coggill P, Beck S, Lynch H, de la Chapelle A, Plass C: Down-regulation of death associated protein kinase 1 (DAPK1) in chronic lymphocytic leukemia. Cell 2007, 129:879-90

Opavsky R, Wang SH, Trikha P, Raval A, Huang Y, Wu YZ, Rodriguez B, Keller B, Liyanarachchi S, Wei G, Davuluri RV, Weinstein M, Felsher D, Ostrowski M, Leone G, Plass C: CpG island methylation in a mouse model of lymphoma is driven by the genetic configuration of tumor cells. PLoS Genet 2007, 3:1757-69

Chen SS, Raval A, Johnson AJ, Hertlein E, Liu TH, Jin VX, Sherman MH, Liu SJ, Dawson DW, Williams KE, Lanasa M, Liyanarachchi S, Lin TS, Marcucci G, Pekarsky Y, Davuluri R, Croce CM, Guttridge DC, Teitell MA, Byrd JC, Plass C: Epigenetic changes during disease progression in a murine model of human chronic lymphocytic leukemia. Proc Natl Acad Sci USA 2009, 106:13433-8

Tel: +49-6221 423300
Fax: +49 6221 423359
c.plass@dkfz-heidelberg.de