Herceg Zdenko
Epigenetics Group, International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), Lyon, France.
Adv Exp Med Biol. 2016;903:3-15. doi: 10.1007/978-1-4899-7678-9_1.
Recent advances in epigenetics have had tremendous impact on our thinking and understanding of biological phenomena and the impact of environmental stressors on complex diseases, notably cancer. Environmental and lifestyle factors are thought to be implicated in the development of a wide range of human cancers by eliciting epigenetic changes, however, the underlying mechanisms remain poorly understood. Epigenetic mechanisms can be viewed as an interface between the genome and environmental influence, therefore aberrant epigenetic events associated with environmental stressors and factors in the cell microenvironment are likely to play an important role in the onset and progression of different human malignancies. At the cellular level, aberrant epigenetic events influence critical cellular events (such as gene expression, carcinogen detoxification, DNA repair, and cell cycle), which are further modulated by risk factor exposures and thus may define the severity/subtype of cancer. This review summarizes recent progress in our understanding of the epigenetic mechanisms through which environmental stressors and endogenous factors may promote tumor development and progression.
表观遗传学的最新进展对我们对生物学现象以及环境应激源对复杂疾病（尤其是癌症）影响的思考和理解产生了巨大影响。环境和生活方式因素被认为通过引发表观遗传变化而与多种人类癌症的发生有关，然而，其潜在机制仍知之甚少。表观遗传机制可被视为基因组与环境影响之间的一个界面，因此，与环境应激源和细胞微环境中的因素相关的异常表观遗传事件可能在不同人类恶性肿瘤的发生和发展中发挥重要作用。在细胞水平上，异常表观遗传事件会影响关键的细胞事件（如基因表达、致癌物解毒、DNA修复和细胞周期），这些事件会进一步受到风险因素暴露的调节，从而可能决定癌症的严重程度/亚型。本综述总结了我们在理解环境应激源和内源性因素可能促进肿瘤发生和发展的表观遗传机制方面的最新进展。
