Hale Victoria, Hale Gregory A, Brown Patrick A, Amankwah Ernest K
Johns Hopkins All Children's Hospital, St. Petersburg, Fla., USA.
Oncology. 2017;92(2):61-67. doi: 10.1159/000452091. Epub 2016 Nov 2.
Acute leukemia is the most common childhood cancer diagnosis and leading cause of cancer-related death among children and adolescents. Despite substantial improvements in the survival rate of childhood acute leukemia, approximately 20-40% of the patients who undergo treatment develop relapse, with a dismal one third of these patients surviving in the long term. Epigenetics plays an important role in the progression of cancer, and existing evidence suggests a role in childhood acute leukemia relapse. A better understanding of the epigenetic mechanisms in recurrent acute leukemia could potentially lead to novel therapeutic regimens to prevent or treat disease recurrences. In this review, we summarize existing evidence on two of the most studied epigenetic mechanisms, DNA methylation and microRNA expression, in recurrent pediatric acute leukemia.
急性白血病是儿童期最常见的癌症诊断类型，也是儿童和青少年癌症相关死亡的主要原因。尽管儿童急性白血病的生存率有了显著提高，但接受治疗的患者中仍有大约20% - 40%会复发，其中只有三分之一的患者能长期存活。表观遗传学在癌症进展中起着重要作用，现有证据表明其在儿童急性白血病复发中也发挥作用。更好地理解复发性急性白血病中的表观遗传机制可能会带来预防或治疗疾病复发的新治疗方案。在本综述中，我们总结了复发性儿童急性白血病中两种研究最多的表观遗传机制——DNA甲基化和微小RNA表达的现有证据。
