Open AccessEffect of DNA Methylation on the Development of Cancer
Author(s) -
Jitka Holčáková
Publication year - 2018
Publication title -
klinická onkologie
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.204
H-Index - 13
eISSN - 1802-5307
pISSN - 0862-495X
DOI - 10.14735/amko20182s41
Subject(s) - dna methylation , epigenetics , epigenome , biology , carcinogenesis , chromatin , cancer epigenetics , dna demethylation , methylation , epigenomics , genetics , cancer , epigenetics of physical exercise , cancer research , dna , computational biology , gene , gene expression
Research in the last decade has confirmed the importance of epigenetic processes for the onset, development, and treatment of cancer. Next generation sequencing has allowed the inspection and mapping of the human epigenome and its monitoring for changes during carcinogenesis, which has revealed direct links between epigenetic abnormalities and mutations in genes that control DNA methylation and packing and those that function in chromatin dynamics and metabolism. Epigenetic changes that occur in the early stages of tumor progression thus represent promising candidates for diagnostic and prognostic markers, and epigenetic processes are suitable targets for the development of new therapeutic strategies. There are two contrasting views on how aberrant DNA methylation contributes to the development of cancer. The first view assumes that normal cells undergo transformation due to driver mutations and subsequent de novo methylation and DNA demethylation, resulting in global changes in gene expression. The second view considers changes in DNA methylation to be a consequence of cell aging, for example, and that the acquired changes increase the sensitivity of DNA to mutations and oncogenic transformation.