{"entity":{"id":"stephen-baylin","kind":"person","name":"Stephen B. Baylin","aka":[],"tldr":"Founder of cancer epigenetics, showing that abnormal DNA methylation silences tumour-suppressor genes and can be reversed by drugs.","summary":"Stephen B. Baylin is the Virginia and D.K. Ludwig Professor of Oncology and Medicine at Johns Hopkins Hospital and the Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center. He is a founder of cancer epigenetics, having established that abnormal promoter DNA methylation silences tumour-suppressor genes in cancer and that this can be reversed by drugs. His selected paper reviews a decade of exploring the cancer epigenome and its biological and translational implications. He led early trials of low-dose azacitidine and HDAC inhibitors in solid tumours and continues to work on epigenetic therapy in lung cancer and acute myeloid leukaemia.","asOf":"2026-09-08","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stephen_B._Baylin","links":[{"label":"Hopkins profile","url":"https://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/profiles/details/stephen-baylin"},{"label":"PubMed","url":"https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/?term=Baylin%20SB%5BAuthor%5D"}],"tags":[],"related":[],"cancers":["nsclc","aml"],"sections":[],"technologies":["epigenetic-drugs","methylation-profiling"],"targets":[],"drugs":["azacitidine"],"companies":[],"institutions":["johns-hopkins"],"pathways":[],"terms":[],"trials":[],"people":[],"bottlenecks":[],"keyPapers":[],"journals":["nature-reviews-cancer"],"dependsOn":[],"notes":[],"role":"Virginia and D.K. Ludwig Professor of Oncology and Medicine","institutionId":"johns-hopkins","specialisms":["Cancer epigenetics","DNA methylation","Epigenetic therapy"],"profiles":[{"label":"Hopkins profile","url":"https://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/profiles/details/stephen-baylin"},{"label":"PubMed","url":"https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/?term=Baylin%20SB%5BAuthor%5D"}],"papers":[{"title":"A decade of exploring the cancer epigenome — biological and translational implications","journal":"Nature Reviews Cancer","year":2011,"url":"https://doi.org/10.1038/nrc3130","doi":"10.1038/nrc3130"}],"orcid":"0000-0003-3697-3798"},"route":"/people/stephen-baylin/","neighbours":{"cancer":[{"id":"aml","kind":"cancer","name":"Acute myeloid leukaemia","route":"/cancers/aml/"},{"id":"nsclc","kind":"cancer","name":"Non-small-cell lung cancer","route":"/cancers/nsclc/"}],"technology":[{"id":"methylation-profiling","kind":"technology","name":"DNA methylation profiling","route":"/technologies/methylation-profiling/"},{"id":"epigenetic-drugs","kind":"technology","name":"Epigenetic drugs (HDAC, DNMT, EZH2, IDH, menin, BET)","route":"/technologies/epigenetic-drugs/"}],"drug":[{"id":"azacitidine","kind":"drug","name":"Azacitidine","route":"/drugs/azacitidine/"}],"institution":[{"id":"johns-hopkins","kind":"institution","name":"Johns Hopkins Hospital / Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center","route":"/institutions/johns-hopkins/"}],"journal":[{"id":"nature-reviews-cancer","kind":"journal","name":"Nature Reviews Cancer","route":"/journals/nature-reviews-cancer/"}],"paper":[{"id":"paper-herman-mlh1-promoter-hypermethylation-colorectal-pnas-1998","kind":"paper","name":"Incidence and functional consequences of hMLH1 promoter hypermethylation in colorectal carcinoma","route":"/key-papers/paper-herman-mlh1-promoter-hypermethylation-colorectal-pnas-1998/"}],"roadmap":[{"id":"epigenetics-roadmap","kind":"roadmap","name":"Epigenetic therapy roadmap: loosening silenced genes → mutation-specific enzymes → editing the epigenome","route":"/roadmaps/epigenetics-roadmap/"}],"term":[{"id":"epigenetic-progenitor-theory","kind":"term","name":"Epigenetic progenitor theory: cancer without a first mutation","route":"/terms/epigenetic-progenitor-theory/"}]}}