Figure 2

Cancer cells require high levels of basal transcription. To maintain a proliferative state cancer cells need active transcription by the three RNA polymerases. In particular the expression of oncogenes as well genes that suppress apoptosis is enhanced in tumour cells. Also, the enhancement of global transcription by MYC is necessary to maintain the cancerous phenotype. This situation is similar to the requirements of the transcription activity in ectopic expression genes, which is more sensible to the reduction of global transcription than normally expressed genes. Different kind of genes in the genome, require different levels of transcriptional activity. For instance, metabolic and regulatory genes do not require high levels of transcriptional activity. On the other hand, genes that express product of terminal differentiation require higher levels of transcriptional activity. Unregulated and ectopically expressed genes as well as overexpressed genes as response to stress, a situation that occurs in many cancers, require even higher transcriptional activity to maintain a transformed phenotype. Therefore, the reduction of the basal transcription activity preferentially affects these genes.