title: Role of several histone lysine methyltransferases in tumor development.
abstract: The field of cancer epigenetics has been evolving rapidly in recent decades. Epigenetic mechanisms include DNA methylation, histone modifications and microRNAs. Histone modifications are important markers of function and chromatin state. Aberrant histone methylation frequently occurs in tumor development and progression. Multiple studies have identified that histone lysine methyltransferases regulate gene transcription through the methylation of histone, which affects cell proliferation and differentiation, cell migration and invasion, and other biological characteristics. Histones have variant lysine sites for different levels of methylation, catalyzed by different lysine methyltransferases, which have numerous effects on human cancers. The present review focused on the most recent advances, described the key function sites of histone lysine methyltransferases, integrated significant quantities of data to introduce several compelling histone lysine methyltransferases in various types of human cancers, summarized their role in tumor development and discussed their potential mechanisms of action.
authors.affiliation: Cell Biology Laboratory, State Key Laboratory of Silkworm Genome Biology, Southwest University, Chongqing 400716, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Jifu
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Li
authors.affiliation: School of Life Science, Southwest University, Chongqing 400716, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Shunqin
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Zhu
authors.affiliation: Cell Biology Laboratory, State Key Laboratory of Silkworm Genome Biology, Southwest University, Chongqing 400716, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Xiao-Xue
authors.initials: XX
authors.lastname: Ke
authors.affiliation: Cell Biology Laboratory, State Key Laboratory of Silkworm Genome Biology, Southwest University, Chongqing 400716, P.R. China.
authors.forename: Hongjuan
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Cui
keywords: histone lysine methyltransferases; histone methylation; tumor development