Affiliations: Translational Research Laboratory, Department of
Gynaecological Oncology, Institute of Women's Health, UCL, London, UK | Biocentre Innsbruck, Division of Cell Biology, Medical
University Innsbruck, Austria
Note: [] Corresponding author: Heidi Fiegl, Translational Research
Laboratory, Department of Gynaecological Oncology, Institute of Women's Health,
Windeyer Building, 46 Cleveland Street, London W1T 4JF, UK. Tel.: +44 20
76799495; Fax: +44 20 76799243; E-mail: Heidi.Fiegl@uibk.ac.at
Abstract: Epigenetic alterations are heritable changes in gene expression
without an accompanying change in primary DNA sequence. Two major mechanisms
that cause epigenetic changes are post-translational histone modifications and
DNA methylation at cytosine bases within a CpG dinucleotide. Epigenetic defects
have turned out to be one of the most common molecular alterations in human
neoplasia. Promoter hypermethylation is associated with loss of expression of
tumour suppressor genes in cancer. The analysis of aberrant DNA methylation is
gaining strength in the fields of cancer risk assessment, diagnosis, and
therapy monitoring in different cancer types. These issues are discussed in
this review.
Keywords: Methylation, cancer risk assessment, diagnostics, prediction
