Epigenetic changes in cancer.
Cancer is as much an epigenetic disease as it is a genetic disease, and epigenetic alterations in cancer often serve as potent surrogates for genetic mutations. Normal epigenetic modifications of DNA encompass three types of changes: chromatin modifications, DNA methylation, and genomic imprinting, each of which is altered in cancer cells. This review addresses the various epigenetic modifications that are pervasive among human tumors and traces the history of cancer epigenetics from the first observations of altered global methylation content to the recently proposed epigenetic progenitor model, which provides a common unifying mechanism for cancer development.
Departments of Pathology and Oncology, Johns Hopkins Medical Institutions, Baltimore, MD 21231, USA. ciacobu@jhmi.edu
Christine A
CA
Iacobuzio-Donahue
D002471:Cell Transformation, Neoplastic / Q000235:genetics* / Q000473:pathology; D042002:Chromatin Assembly and Disassembly; D019175:DNA Methylation; D044127:Epigenesis, Genetic; D015972:Gene Expression Regulation, Neoplastic; D018392:Genomic Imprinting; D005838:Genotype; D006801:Humans; D008957:Models, Genetic; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000235:genetics* / Q000473:pathology; D014411:Neoplastic Stem Cells / Q000473:pathology; D010641:Phenotype; D015398:Signal Transduction / Q000235:genetics