TY - JOUR T1 - The Thrill Can Kill: Murder by Methylation JF - Molecular Pharmacology JO - Mol Pharmacol SP - 1203 LP - 1205 DO - 10.1124/mol.107.035196 VL - 71 IS - 5 AU - Sailen Barik Y1 - 2007/05/01 UR - http://molpharm.aspetjournals.org/content/71/5/1203.abstract N2 - 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 ER -