Cancer Epigenomics

  • Functional and Structural Genomics
Prof. Dr. Christoph Plass

Prof. Dr. Christoph Plass

Division Head

Our division studies the contribution of epigenetic modifications to cancer, from their role in promoting tumor growth to their modulation of cancer therapies. Non-genetic mechanisms of therapy resistance are poorly understood at the molecular level and represent an unmet clinical need that we are addressing in several projects.

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Our Research

The Division of Cancer Epigenomics focuses on the integration of epigenomic, genetic and transcriptomic data to unravel epigenomic alterations contributing to human malignancies, with a focus on acute myeloid leukemia, chronic lymphocytic leukemia, breast, lung, and prostate cancer. Altered epigenetic regulation of gene expression through changes in DNA methylation patterns, histone modifications and nucleosome positioning has been identified as a tumorigenic mechanism in almost all human malignancies. Epigenetic gene regulation through modulation of enhancer activity is now recognized as a novel concept in cancer epigenomics. Epigenetic modifications do not alter the gene sequence and offer the exciting possibility of using inhibitors of epigenetic enzymes to revert them. Our work relies on the use of state-of-the-art technologies, including genome-wide epigenomic profiling of purified cell types using low-input protocols, single-cell technologies, long-read sequencing and sophisticated computational analyses of omics data.

Overwiew of the Cancer Epigenomics Division
Overwiew of the Cancer Epigenomics Division

Teams

Lung Cancer Epigenomics
Computational and Single-Cell Epigenomics
Epigenomics of hormone-driven cancers
Cancer Epigenomics

Members

  • Employee image

    Prof. Dr. Christoph Plass

    Division Head

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  • Employee image

    Susanna Grenner

    Secretary

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    Dr. Clarissa Gerhäuser

    Group Leader Prostate Cancer Epigenomics

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    Dr. Maria Llamazares Prada

    Group Leader Lung Cancer Epigenomics

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    Dr. Michael Scherer

    Group Leader Computational and Single-Cell Epigenomics

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    Dr. habil. Dieter Weichenhan

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    Dr. Fiona Brown

    Postdoctoral Researcher

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    Maxime de Vrieze

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    Nan Zhang

    PhD Student

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    Elena Everatt

    PhD Student

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    Gizem Altun

    PhD Student

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    Kathleen Schlüter

    PhD Student

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    Sergio Manzano Sanchez

    Technician

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    Marion Bähr

    Technician

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    Peter Waas

    Technician

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    Oliver Mücke

    Technician

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    Thekli Paschali

    Master Student

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    Luc Husemann

    B. Sc. Student

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    Yoav Avi-Guy

Entire Team

Methods

Methods

Selected Publications

2016 - Nat Genet, 48(3):253-264

Progressive epigenetic programming during B cell maturation yields a continuum of disease phenotypes in chronic lymphocytic leukemia

Oakes CC, Seifert M, Assenov Y, Gu L, Przekopowitz M, Ruppert AS, Wang Q, Serva A, Koser S, Brocks D, Lipka D, Bogatyrova O, Mertens D, Zapatka M, Lichter P, Döhner H, Küppers R, Zenz T, Stilgenbauer S, Byrd JC and Plass C

2018 - Cancer Cell 34: 996-1011

Molecular evolution of early-onset prostate cancer identifies molecular risk markers and clinical trajectories

Gerhauser C, Favero F, Risch T, Simon R, Feuerbach L, Assenov Y, Heckmann D, Sidiropoulos N, Waszak SM, Hübschmann D, Urbanucci A, Girma EG, Kuryshev V, Klimczak LJ, Saini N, Stütz AM, Weichenhan D, Böttcher LM, Toth R, Hendriksen JD, Koop C, Lutsik P, Matzk S, Warnatz HJ, Amstislavskiy V, Feuerstein C, Raeder B, Bogatyrova O, Schmitz EM, Hube-Magg C, Kluth M, Huland H, Graefen M, Lawerenz C, Henry GH, Yamaguchi TN, Malewska A, Meiners J, Schilling D, Reisinger E, Eils R, Schlesner M, Strand DW, Bristow RG, Boutros PC, von Kalle C, Gordenin D, Sültmann H, Brors B, Sauter G, Plass C, Yaspo ML, Korbel JO, Schlomm T, Weischenfeldt J

2021 - Nat Commun. 12: 6520

Epigenetic reprogramming of airway macrophages promotes polarization and inflammation in muco-obstructive lung disease

Hey J, Paulsen M, Toth R, Weichenhan D, Butz S, Schatterny J, Liebers R, Lutsik P, Plass C, Mall MA

2023 - Nat Commun. 14: 6731

DNMT and HDAC inhibition induces immunogenic neoantigens from human endogenous retroviral element-derived transcripts

Goyal A, Bauer J, Hey J, Papageorgiou DN, Stepanova E, Daskalakis M, Scheid J, Dubbelaar M, Klimovich B, Schwarz D, Märklin M, Roerden M, Lin Y, Ma T, Mücke O, Rammensee H, Lübbert M, Loayza-Puch F, Krijgsveld J, Walz JS, Plass C

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Prof. Dr. Christoph Plass

Division Head
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