DNA甲基化与肝细胞癌

肝细胞癌是原发性肝癌的主要类型，也是常见的恶性肿瘤之一，具有较高的发病率和病死率。然而在分子和细胞水平，肝癌的发病机制仍然不清楚。一般来说，肿瘤形成通常被认为是抑癌基因失活或原癌基因激活致DNA突变而诱导人类正常细胞向恶性细胞转化的过程。近年来随着对肿瘤研究的不断深入，人们发现表观遗传学改变与肝癌发生发展密切相关。其中DNA甲基化是人类基因组发生最为常见的一种表观遗传学事件，也是表观遗传学研究最为深入的一种机制。本文将就DNA甲基化在肝癌中的研究进展作一综述。

DNA methylation and hepatocellular carcinoma

Hepatocellular carcinoma is one of the most common cancer with a high incidence and mortality, representing a main type of primary liver cancer. However, the molecular and cellular mechanisms of hepatocellular carcinoma pathogenesis are still poorly understood. Traditionally, the development of hepatocellular carcinoma has been viewed as a process of transforming of normal cells into malignant driven by the genetic alterations in tumor-suppressor gene deactivation and pro-oneogene activation. In recent years, with the deeper understanding of tumor, it has been found that epigenetic alterations are closely related to the occurrence and the development of hepatocellular carcinoma. DNA methylation is one of the most common epigenetic events occurring in human genome, as well as the best studied of the epigenetic changes. This review focuses on the state-of-the-art advancements of DNA methylation in hepatocellular carcinoma.