Epigenomic biomarkers for prognostication and diagnosis of gastrointestinal cancers.

Abstract

Altered epigenetic regulation is central to many human diseases, including cancer. Over the past two decade, major advances have been made in our understanding of the role of epigenetic alterations in carcinogenesis, particularly for DNA methylation, histone modifications and non-coding RNAs. Aberrant hypermethylation of DNA at CpG islands is a well-established phenomenon that mediates transcriptional silencing of tumor suppressor genes, and it is an early event integral to gastrointestinal cancer development. As such, detection of aberrant DNA methylation is being developed as biomarkers for prognostic and diagnostic purposes in gastrointestinal cancers. Diverse tissue types are suitable for the analyses of methylated DNA, such as tumor tissues, blood, plasma, and stool, and some of these markers are already utilized in the clinical setting. Recent advances in the genome-wide epigenomic approaches are enabling the comprehensive mapping of the cancer methylome, thus providing new avenues for mining novel biomarkers for disease prognosis and diagnosis. Here, we review the current knowledge on DNA methylation biomarkers for the prognostication and non-invasive diagnosis of gastrointestinal cancers and highlight their clinical application.

• Authors: Chi Chun Wong, Weilin Li, Bertina Chan, Jun Yu
• Journal: Seminars in cancer biology (Semin Cancer Biol) Vol. 55 Pg. 90-105 (04 2019) ISSN: 1096-3650 [Electronic] England
• PMID: 29665409 (Publication Type: Journal Article, Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't, Review)
• Copyright: Copyright © 2018 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.

Chemical References

• Biomarkers, Tumor
• MicroRNAs

Topics

• Biomarkers, Tumor
• CpG Islands (genetics)
• DNA Methylation (genetics)
• Epigenomics
• Gastrointestinal Neoplasms (genetics, pathology)
• Gene Silencing
• Humans
• MicroRNAs (genetics)