The Sidney Kimmel Comprehensive Cancer Center at Johns Hopkins, Baltimore, Maryland 21231, USA.
Nat Rev Cancer. 2011 Sep 23;11(10):726-34. doi: 10.1038/nrc3130.
The past decade has highlighted the central role of epigenetic processes in cancer causation, progression and treatment. Next-generation sequencing is providing a window for visualizing the human epigenome and how it is altered in cancer. This view provides many surprises, including linking epigenetic abnormalities to mutations in genes that control DNA methylation, the packaging and the function of DNA in chromatin, and metabolism. Epigenetic alterations are leading candidates for the development of specific markers for cancer detection, diagnosis and prognosis. The enzymatic processes that control the epigenome present new opportunities for deriving therapeutic strategies designed to reverse transcriptional abnormalities that are inherent to the cancer epigenome.
过去十年突显了表观遗传过程在癌症发病机制、进展和治疗中的核心作用。下一代测序技术为观察人类表观基因组及其在癌症中的变化提供了一个窗口。这一观点带来了许多惊喜，包括将表观遗传异常与控制 DNA 甲基化、染色质中 DNA 的包装和功能以及代谢的基因中的突变联系起来。表观遗传改变是开发用于癌症检测、诊断和预后的特定标志物的候选者。控制表观基因组的酶促过程为开发旨在逆转癌症表观基因组固有的转录异常的治疗策略提供了新的机会。
