Department of Urology, USC Norris Comprehensive Cancer Center Keck School of Medicine, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA 90089, USA.
Cancer Cell. 2012 Jul 10;22(1):9-20. doi: 10.1016/j.ccr.2012.06.008.
Epigenetic and genetic alterations have long been thought of as two separate mechanisms participating in carcinogenesis. A recent outcome of whole exome sequencing of thousands of human cancers has been the unexpected discovery of many inactivating mutations in genes that control the epigenome. These mutations have the potential to disrupt DNA methylation patterns, histone modifications, and nucleosome positioning and hence, gene expression. Genetic alteration of the epigenome therefore contributes to cancer just as epigenetic process can cause point mutations and disable DNA repair functions. This crosstalk between the genome and the epigenome offers new possibilities for therapy.
长期以来,人们一直认为表观遗传和遗传改变是参与癌症发生的两种独立机制。对数千个人类癌症的全外显子组测序的最新结果是,出人意料地发现了许多控制表观基因组的基因失活突变。这些突变有可能破坏 DNA 甲基化模式、组蛋白修饰和核小体定位,从而影响基因表达。因此,表观基因组的遗传改变与癌症有关,正如表观遗传过程可以导致点突变并使 DNA 修复功能失活一样。基因组和表观基因组之间的这种串扰为治疗提供了新的可能性。