A group of South Korean scientists has discovered a mechanism that suppresses autophagy in breast cancer cells.
 
The National Research Foundation of Korea announced on Wednesday that the group led by Hwang Jung-jin of Asan Medical Center in Seoul discovered that the inhibition of the histone methyltransferase, EHMT2/G9a, epigenetically increases the transcription of Beclin-1 protein which, plays a key role in autophagy. 

Autophagy refers to the mechanism that disassembles unnecessary or dysfunctional cellular components, thus contributing to tumor suppression.
 
The findings were posted on the May eleventh edition of Oncotarget, a medical journal covering oncology studies.