Die Studie zeigt, dass das Entfernen von Methylgruppen aus DNA die Gene wieder einschalten kann, was bestätigt, dass Methylierung direkt für die Gen -Stummschaltung verantwortlich ist

Hi r/science – sharing the above study that our Deputy Vice-Chancellor Professor Merlin Crossley led, alongside colleagues from St Jude Children’s Research Hospital in the US.

The study details a new method of epigenetic editing that uses a modified CRISPR system to deliver enzymes that remove methyl groups from DNA.

The study is promising for people living with genetic diseases – turning certain genes on or off by altering the methyl groups avoids having to cut DNA strands, which creates the risk of gene mutations and cancer. It’s a gentler, epigenetic approach that could transform treatment for inherited diseases like Sickle Cell.

Here’s a link to the published paper if you’d like to check it out: [Removal of promoter CpG methylation by epigenome editing reverses HBG silencing](https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-025-62177-z.epdf?sharing_token=6KVrR4JSMu0kyN8sQatgs9RgN0jAjWel9jnR3ZoTv0PSiN0hHm_2bElBChSSnbmG9KQwohVVEkLi0r_7J_quI89_t8mfdgTnTF9aN3yQwx_z9U9hdgdERSmlFNwkoLxPO2TK6J6mmT9PqMYI_vhvCPHN0QVAd8uUL7fDbnj_Abg%3D)

The title confused me for a moment, since we’ve known for decades that methylation can turn genes on or off. That’s not news. The cool part here is that the team here actually did demethylate the gene they wanted to demethylate–which is really awesome!