title: The epigenetics of tumour initiation: cancer stem cells and their chromatin.
abstract: Cancer stem cells (CSCs) have been identified in various tumours and are defined by their potential to initiate tumours upon transplantation, self-renew and reconstitute tumour heterogeneity. Modifications of the epigenome can favour tumour initiation by affecting genome integrity, DNA repair and tumour cell plasticity. Importantly, an in-depth understanding of the epigenomic alterations underlying neoplastic transformation may open new avenues for chromatin-targeted cancer treatment, as these epigenetic changes could be inherently more amenable to inhibition and reversal than hard-wired genomic alterations. Here we discuss how CSC function is affected by chromatin state and epigenomic instability.
authors.affiliation: Institute for Research in Biomedicine (IRB Barcelona), The Barcelona Institute of Science and Technology, Barcelona, Spain.
authors.forename: Alexandra
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Avgustinova
authors.affiliation: Institute for Research in Biomedicine (IRB Barcelona), The Barcelona Institute of Science and Technology, Barcelona, Spain; Catalan Institution for Research and Advanced Studies (ICREA), Barcelona, Spain. Electronic address: salvador.aznar-benitah@irbbarcelona.org.
authors.forename: Salvador Aznar
authors.initials: SA
authors.lastname: Benitah
mesh_terms: D002471:Cell Transformation, Neoplastic / Q000235:genetics; D002843:Chromatin / Q000235:genetics*; D004260:DNA Repair / Q000235:genetics; D044127:Epigenesis, Genetic / Q000235:genetics*; D006801:Humans; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000235:genetics*; D014411:Neoplastic Stem Cells
chemical_list: D002843:Chromatin