Department of Otolaryngology and Head and Neck Surgery, Head and Neck Cancer Research Laboratory, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, Baltimore, Maryland, USA.
Curr Opin Oncol. 2018 May;30(3):152-158. doi: 10.1097/CCO.0000000000000444.
The present review aims to describe the epigenetic alterations observed in oral cancer linked to the exposure to alcohol and/or tobacco.
Recent findings emphasize the importance of epigenetics in oral cancer progression and in how risk factors (as tobacco and alcohol) affect the basal epigenetic profiles. Deeper techniques and detailed approaches allowed the perception that individual CG changes and even subtle changes may represent important epigenetic alterations resulting in expression changes and other carcinogenic consequences. New classes of epigenetic alterations including noncoding RNAs have been gaining attention.
Many epigenetic alterations have been described in oral carcinoma progression induced by tobacco and/or alcohol, including: promoter hypermethylation in genes with tumor suppressive activity, global (genome-wide) hypomethylation, change in methylation patterns throughout the genes, alteration in noncoding RNAs, and histones modifications. These changes represent progress in the knowledge of how these risk factors act in a molecular level. There is an urgent need for large independent studies to move these potential makers further and validate them to identify risk assessment, early diagnostic markers, and therapeutic targets, as well as to be the base for prevention and intervention strategies.
本综述旨在描述与接触酒精和/或烟草相关的口腔癌中观察到的表观遗传改变。
最近的研究结果强调了表观遗传学在口腔癌进展以及风险因素（如烟草和酒精）如何影响基础表观遗传特征中的重要性。更深入的技术和详细的方法使人们认识到，个别 CG 变化甚至细微变化可能代表重要的表观遗传改变，导致表达变化和其他致癌后果。包括非编码 RNA 在内的新类别的表观遗传改变引起了人们的关注。
在烟草和/或酒精诱导的口腔癌进展中已经描述了许多表观遗传改变，包括：具有肿瘤抑制活性的基因启动子过度甲基化、全基因组低甲基化、整个基因中甲基化模式的改变、非编码 RNA 的改变以及组蛋白修饰。这些变化代表了在分子水平上了解这些风险因素如何作用的知识的进步。迫切需要进行大型独立研究，以进一步推进这些潜在标志物，并对其进行验证，以确定风险评估、早期诊断标志物和治疗靶点，并为预防和干预策略提供基础。
