Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • Research Briefing
  • Published:

MYC activates transcriptional enhancers to drive cancer progression

We show that in addition to promoter activation, MYC drives cancer progression by activating transcriptional enhancers via a distinct mechanism. MYC cooperates with several other proteins at these cis-regulatory regions to change the epigenome and promote recruitment of RNA polymerase II and enhancer transcription.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Access options

Buy this article

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Fig. 1: MYC activates transcriptional enhancers that drive prognostic gene programs.

References

  1. Baluapuri, A., Wolf, E. & Eilers, M. Target gene-independent functions of MYC oncoproteins. Nat. Rev. Mol. Cell Biol. 21, 255–267 (2020). A review article that describes the transcriptional mechanisms underlying MYC function.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  2. Lin, C. Y. et al. Transcriptional amplification in tumor cells with elevated c-Myc. Cell 151, 56–67 (2012). This paper reports MYC enhancer invasion upon overexpression.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  3. Papachristou, E. K. et al. A quantitative mass spectrometry-based approach to monitor the dynamics of endogenous chromatin-associated protein complexes. Nat. Commun. 9, 2311 (2018). This paper describes the qPLEX-RIME method to study protein interactomes.

    Article  PubMed  PubMed Central  Google Scholar 

  4. Kalkat, M. et al. MYC protein interactome profiling reveals functionally distinct regions that cooperate to drive tumorigenesis. Mol. Cell 72, 836–848 (2018). This paper reports the interactomes of full-length MYC and various MYC mutants.

    Article  CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

Download references

Additional information

Publisher’s note Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.

This is a summary of: Jakobsen, S. T. et al. MYC activity at enhancers drives prognostic transcriptional programs through an epigenetic switch. Nat. Genet. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41588-024-01676-z (2024).

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

MYC activates transcriptional enhancers to drive cancer progression. Nat Genet 56, 567–568 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41588-024-01677-y

Download citation

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/s41588-024-01677-y

Search

Quick links

Nature Briefing: Cancer

Sign up for the Nature Briefing: Cancer newsletter — what matters in cancer research, free to your inbox weekly.

Get what matters in cancer research, free to your inbox weekly. Sign up for Nature Briefing: Cancer