Can new epigenetic cancer treatments have an effect on future generations?

 

New advances in epigenetic medications have opened up new therapy possibilities for cancer and other disorders, but may these treatments have long-term impacts on the fertility of both female patients and their future offspring? For example results of their recent study analysing the drug Tazemetostat and its effects on oocytes and germ line genomes in female mice, a recent study published in Clinical Epigenetics argues that this is something that should be more extensively studied in clinical treatment trials.

Advances in cancer research diagnostics and therapies have helped doctors to detect and treat cancer sooner, resulting in improved early stage diagnosis. This does, however, mean that a greater percentage of women are being treated for cancer during what are typically seen as critical reproductive years. While pharmacological clinical studies look at the patient's side effects, they rarely assess the influence on the patient's progeny. With the advancement of genetically-based cancer treatments, particularly epigenetically-based medicines, alterations in a patient's epigenome caused by targeted treatment medications could have a significant impact. Given that women are born with a fixed number of eggs (oocytes) and that more women of reproductive age are being treated for cancers, there is an obvious need to better understand the potential consequences of these novel medicines for women who wish to have children after treatment.

It is evident that more research is needed to assess the possible effects on fertility and future progeny through designing and evaluating epigenetically-based medications that may fundamentally modify the functioning of a gene known to be involved in fertility and reproductive success.