Porten Sima P
Department of Urology, University of California San Francisco (UCSF), Mailbox Code 1695, 550 16th Street, 6th Floor, San Francisco, CA, 94143, USA.
Curr Urol Rep. 2018 Oct 24;19(12):102. doi: 10.1007/s11934-018-0861-5.
Epigenetics refers to processes that alter gene expression without altering primary DNA. Over that past decade, there is a growing focus on epigenetic mechanisms in cancer research and its importance in cancer biology. This review summarizes epigenetic dysregulation in bladder cancer.
Epigenetic alterations are overall shared across various grades and stages of bladder cancer. High grade invasive tumors demonstrate a greater degree and intensity of methylation and may have a unique methylation pattern. Environmental exposures may influence epigenetic alterations directly independent of genomic change. Non-coding RNAs play an important role in cancer phenotype, especially in the context of integrative genomic analyses. DNA hypermethylation and non-coding RNAs have potential as robust bladder cancer biomarkers; however, they require further study and validation. Changes in chromatin and histone modification are attractive targets for therapy and are currently in clinical trials. Epigenetic dysregulation may be an important key in improving the understanding of bladder cancer pathogenesis, especially through integrative genomic analyses. Deeper understanding of these pathways can help identify clinically relevant biomarkers and therapeutic targets to validate for diagnosis, monitoring, prognosis, and treatment for bladder cancer.
表观遗传学是指在不改变DNA序列的情况下改变基因表达的过程。在过去十年中，癌症研究中对表观遗传机制及其在癌症生物学中的重要性的关注日益增加。本综述总结了膀胱癌中的表观遗传失调。
表观遗传改变在膀胱癌的各个分级和分期中普遍存在。高级别浸润性肿瘤表现出更高程度和强度的甲基化，并且可能具有独特的甲基化模式。环境暴露可能直接独立于基因组变化影响表观遗传改变。非编码RNA在癌症表型中起重要作用，特别是在综合基因组分析的背景下。DNA高甲基化和非编码RNA有潜力成为强大的膀胱癌生物标志物；然而，它们需要进一步研究和验证。染色质和组蛋白修饰的变化是有吸引力的治疗靶点，目前正处于临床试验阶段。表观遗传失调可能是增进对膀胱癌发病机制理解的重要关键，特别是通过综合基因组分析。对这些途径的更深入理解有助于识别临床相关的生物标志物和治疗靶点，以验证用于膀胱癌的诊断、监测、预后和治疗。
