An epigenomic mechanism in retinoblastoma: the end of the story?

The role that retinoblastoma has played in our understanding of cancer biology could hardly have been imagined 40 years ago when this disease was a rare curiosity, of interest primarily because of its variable laterality, occasional dominant inheritance, frequent lethality and embyronal origin. The discovery of its cause (biallelic loss of RB1) did not offer insight to improved management. However, the recent discovery of aberrant expression of the gene encoding spleen tyrosine kinase (SYK) subsequent to widespread methylation abnormalities in retinoblastoma suggests a potential new therapy for the disease. There is more to the story, however.