Department of Leukemia, UT MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX 77030, United States.
FEBS Lett. 2011 Jul 7;585(13):2078-86. doi: 10.1016/j.febslet.2010.12.001. Epub 2010 Dec 10.
There is compelling evidence to support the importance of DNA methylation alterations in cancer development. Both losses and gains of DNA methylation are observed, thought to contribute pathophysiologically by inactivating tumor suppressor genes, inducing chromosomal instability and ectopically activating gene expression. Lesser known are the causes of aberrant DNA methylation. Recent studies have pointed out that intrinsic gene susceptibility to DNA methylation, environmental factors and gene function all have an intertwined participation in this process. Overall, these data support a deterministic rather than a stochastic mechanism for de novo DNA methylation in cancer. In this review article, we discuss the technologies available to study DNA methylation and the endogenous and exogenous factors that influence the onset of de novo methylation in cancer.
有确凿的证据支持 DNA 甲基化改变在癌症发展中的重要性。观察到 DNA 甲基化的丢失和获得,据认为通过失活肿瘤抑制基因、诱导染色体不稳定性和异位激活基因表达在病理生理学上起作用。不太为人知的是异常 DNA 甲基化的原因。最近的研究指出,内在的基因易感性、环境因素和基因功能都在这个过程中交织在一起。总的来说,这些数据支持癌症中新发 DNA 甲基化的确定性机制而不是随机性机制。在这篇综述文章中,我们讨论了可用于研究 DNA 甲基化的技术,以及影响癌症中新发甲基化的内在和外在因素。