title: DNA methylation profiling in the clinic: applications and challenges.
abstract: Knowledge of epigenetic alterations in disease is rapidly increasing owing to the development of genome-wide techniques for their identification. The ever-growing number of genes that show epigenetic alterations in disease emphasizes the crucial role of these epigenetic alterations - particularly DNA methylation - for future diagnosis, prognosis and prediction of response to therapies. This Review focuses on epigenetic profiling, which has started to be of clinical value in cancer and may in the future be extended to other diseases, such as neurological and autoimmune disorders.
authors.affiliation: Cancer Epigenetics and Biology Program (PEBC), Bellvitge Biomedical Research Institute (IDIBELL), 08908 L'Hospitalet de Llobregat, Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain.
authors.forename: Holger
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Heyn
authors.forename: Manel
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Esteller
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D019411:Clinical Laboratory Techniques / Q000379:methods* / Q000592:standards; D019175:DNA Methylation / Q000502:physiology; D004194:Disease / Q000235:genetics; D044127:Epigenesis, Genetic / Q000502:physiology; D020869:Gene Expression Profiling / Q000379:methods / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006801:Humans; D008954:Models, Biological; D058990:Molecular Targeted Therapy / Q000379:methods / Q000639:trends