Bhat Showkat Ahmad, Majid Sabhiya, Wani Hilal Ahmad, Rashid Samia
Department of Biochemistry, Government Medical College, Srinagar, Jammu & Kashmir, India.
Department of Biochemistry, Government Medical College, Srinagar, Jammu & Kashmir, India.
Cancer Treat Res Commun. 2019;19:100125. doi: 10.1016/j.ctarc.2019.100125. Epub 2019 Feb 19.
Epigenetic alterations are clearly involved in cancer initiation and progression as recent epigenetic studies of genomic DNA, histone modifications and micro-RNA alterations suggest that these are playing an important role in the incidence of breast cancer. Epigenetic information has recently gained the attention of researchers because epigenetic modification of the genome in breast cancer is still an evolving area for researchers. Several active compounds present in foods, poisons, drugs, and industrial chemicals may as a result of epigenetic mechanisms increase or decrease the risk of breast cancer. Epigenetic regulation is critical in normal growth and development and closely conditions the transcriptional potential of genes. Epigenetic mechanisms convey genomic adaption to an environment thereby ultimately contributing towards given phenotype. In addition to the use of epigenetic alterations as a means of screening, epigenetic alterations in a tumor or adjacent tissues or peripheral blood may also help clinicians in determining prognosis and treatment of breast cancer. As we understand specific epigenetic alterations contributing to breast tumorigenesis and prognosis, these discoveries will lead to significant advances for breast cancer treatment, like in therapeutics that target methylation and histone modifications in breast cancer and the newer versions of the drugs are likely to play an important role in future clinical treatment.
表观遗传改变显然与癌症的发生和发展有关，因为最近对基因组DNA、组蛋白修饰和微小RNA改变的表观遗传学研究表明，这些改变在乳腺癌的发病中起着重要作用。表观遗传信息最近引起了研究人员的关注，因为乳腺癌中基因组的表观遗传修饰仍是研究人员不断探索的领域。食物、毒物、药物和工业化学品中存在的几种活性化合物可能通过表观遗传机制增加或降低患乳腺癌的风险。表观遗传调控在正常生长和发育中至关重要，并密切影响基因的转录潜能。表观遗传机制使基因组适应环境，从而最终促成特定的表型。除了将表观遗传改变用作筛查手段外，肿瘤、邻近组织或外周血中的表观遗传改变也可能帮助临床医生确定乳腺癌的预后和治疗方案。随着我们了解到导致乳腺肿瘤发生和预后的特定表观遗传改变，这些发现将推动乳腺癌治疗取得重大进展，例如针对乳腺癌中甲基化和组蛋白修饰的治疗方法，而新型药物可能在未来临床治疗中发挥重要作用。
