User:Harveyevans/Manuel Perucho

Manuel Perucho
(Born 1948, La Roda, Spain)

Manuel Perucho, PhD is a scientist and teacher working in cancer research, principally in the field of epigenetics.

Manuel Perucho earned his Ph.D. in biological sciences at the University of Madrid, Spain in 1976. He did postdoctoral work at the Max-Planck-Institut für Molekulare Genetik, Berlin and at Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, where he was subsequently appointed to staff in 1981. Following appointments at SUNY Stony Brook as Assistant and Associate Professor in 1982 and 1987, respectively, Dr. Perucho joined the California Institute for Biological Research in La Jolla, serving as Research Program Director from 1993 to 1995. Dr. Perucho was recruited to the [Burnham Institute for Medical Research] in 1995. In 2007 he was appointed Director of the new independent [Institut de Medicina Predictiva i Personalitzada del Càncer] (Institute of Predictive and Personalized Medicine of Cancer) in Badalona just outside Barcelona, [Spain].

He has published over one hundred articles in peer reviewed journals as well as books and contributions to meetings. He is currently on the editorial boards of the Journal of Cancer, the [Journal of Oncology], [BioMed Central Medicine] and [Cancer Science] and several advisory committees. He has received honors for his services to cancer research the United states, Spain and Japan.

Dr. Perucho’s scientific contributions have pioneered some of the main shifts in our understanding of the molecular basis of cancer, including the discovery, isolation and characterization of oncogenes in the eighties and the unveiling of the mutator phenotype as a novel remote control mechanism underlying tumorigenesis in some hereditary and sporadic cancers in the nineties. For example he identified the changes that take place in hereditary nonpolyposis colorectal cancer (HNPCC), also known as Lynch's syndrome which have lead to early identification of individuals at risk and testing of family members. Individuals carrying a mutation on one of the five genes implicated can be recommended for earlier screening and more sensitive testing which allows for early onset diagnosis and more effective treatment.

Identification, screening and early treatment of people with HNPCC is an example of predictive and Personalized Medicine. Dr Perucho continues to work to extend the number of cancers that can be treated this way. Predictive and Personalized Medicine is believed by many to be a realistic alternative to the current paradigm following the success of the Human Genome Project.

More recently, Dr. Perucho has discovered a mechanistic link between aging and cancer through the gradual and age-dependent accumulation of epigenetic alterations and their etiological role in the generation of oncogenic genetic alterations

Notes and References
Ionov, Y., Peinado, M.A., Malkhosyan, S., Shibata, D. and Perucho, M. Ubiquitous somatic mutations in simple repeated sequences reveal a new mechanism for colonic carcinogenesis. Nature 363:558-561, 1993. [doi:10.1038/363558a0]

Ionov, Y., Yamamoto, H. Krajewski, S. Reed, J. and Perucho M. Mutational inactivation of the pro-apoptotic gene BAX confers selective advantage during tumor clonal evolution. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 97:10872-10877, 2000.[doi:10.1073/pnas.190210897]

Yamashita, K., Dai, T., Dai, Y., Yamamoto, F., and Perucho, M. Genetics supersedes epigenetics in colon cancer phenotype. Cancer Cell 4: 121-131, 2003.[doi:10.1016/S1535-6108(03)00190-9]

Suzuki K, Suzuki I, Leodolter A, Alonso S, Horiuchi S, Yamashita K, Perucho M. Global DNA demethylation in gastrointestinal cancer is age dependent and precedes genomic damage. Cancer Cell. 9:199-207. 2006.[doi:10.1016/j.ccr.2006.02.016]

Manuel Perucho