title: Epigenome-wide association studies for cancer biomarker discovery in circulating cell-free DNA: technical advances and challenges.
abstract: Since introducing the concept of epigenome-wide association studies (EWAS) in 2011, there has been a vast increase in the number of published EWAS studies in common diseases, including in cancer. These studies have increased our understanding of epigenetic events underlying carcinogenesis and have enabled the discovery of cancer-specific methylation biomarkers. In this mini-review, we have focused on the state of the art in EWAS applied to cell-free circulating DNA for epigenetic biomarker discovery in cancer and discussed associated technical advances and challenges, and our expectations for the future of the field.
authors.affiliation: UCL Cancer Institute, University College London, London WC1E 6BT, UK. Electronic address: m.tanic@ucl.ac.uk.
authors.forename: Miljana
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Tanić
authors.affiliation: UCL Cancer Institute, University College London, London WC1E 6BT, UK.
authors.forename: Stephan
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Beck
mesh_terms: D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor / Q000097:blood* / Q000235:genetics; D000073888:Cell-Free Nucleic Acids / Q000097:blood* / Q000235:genetics; D057890:Epigenomics / Q000639:trends*; D015894:Genome, Human; D023281:Genomics / Q000639:trends; D006801:Humans; D009369:Neoplasms / Q000097:blood* / Q000235:genetics
chemical_list: D014408:Biomarkers, Tumor; D000073888:Cell-Free Nucleic Acids