Metabolic aberrations affecting protein and DNA methylation are a potential source of cancer. A new study shows that the metabolic enzyme nicotinamide N-methyl-transferase, which is overexpressed in several types of tumors, can enhance cancer aggressiveness by draining methyl groups from S-adenosyl-methionine.
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Shlomi, T., Rabinowitz, J. Cancer mistunes methylation. Nat Chem Biol 9, 293–294 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1038/nchembio.1234
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/nchembio.1234