title: Epigenetic biomarkers in the blood of patients with urological malignancies.
abstract: In the era of personalized medicine, there is an urgent need for non-invasive biomarkers to optimize the individual treatment of cancer patients. Epigenetic alterations, including DNA methylation and non-coding RNAs, are a hallmark of malignant tumors. The detection of many of these epigenetic conditions is feasible in bodily fluids, that is, blood plasma and serum, and may therefore be used for liquid biopsy. In this review, we summarize and discuss the current state of research on circulating epigenetic alterations (DNA methylation, miRNA and long non-coding RNA) in serum and plasma of patients with bladder cancer, prostate cancer, renal cell carcinoma and testicular germ cell cancer.
authors.affiliation: Department of Urology, University Hospital Bonn, Bonn, Germany.
authors.forename: Jörg
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Ellinger
authors.forename: Stefan C
authors.initials: SC
authors.lastname: Müller
authors.forename: Dimo
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Dietrich
mesh_terms: D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor / Q000097:blood / Q000235:genetics*; D019175:DNA Methylation; D044127:Epigenesis, Genetic; D057890:Epigenomics / Q000379:methods*; D006801:Humans; D035683:MicroRNAs / Q000097:blood / Q000235:genetics; D062085:RNA, Long Noncoding / Q000097:blood / Q000235:genetics; D014571:Urologic Neoplasms / Q000097:blood / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000235:genetics*
chemical_list: D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor; D035683:MicroRNAs; D062085:RNA, Long Noncoding
keywords: DNA methylation; biomarker; bladder cancer; body fluids; liquid biopsy; lncRNA; miRNA; prostate cancer; renal cell carcinoma; testicular cancer