PT - JOURNAL ARTICLE AU - Sailen Barik TI - The Thrill Can Kill: Murder by Methylation AID - 10.1124/mol.107.035196 DP - 2007 May 01 TA - Molecular Pharmacology PG - 1203--1205 VI - 71 IP - 5 4099 - http://molpharm.aspetjournals.org/content/71/5/1203.short 4100 - http://molpharm.aspetjournals.org/content/71/5/1203.full SO - Mol Pharmacol2007 May 01; 71 AB - Why babies of crack-cocaine mothers develop heart problems has always been a mystery. In this issue of Molecular Pharmacology, Zhang et al. (p. 1319) show that a specific methylation occurs at the protein kinase Cϵ (PKCϵ) promoter of the babies born of mother rats exposed to cocaine. This reduces the expression of PKCϵ, a naturally cardioprotective enzyme, which provides a plausible molecular mechanism for cardiac failure. The American Society for Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics