表观遗传学在前列腺癌靶向治疗中的研究进展

在前列腺癌的发生和发展过程中,肿瘤细胞发生异常表观遗传学改变,这些畸变促进基因组不稳定性,并导致肿瘤抑制基因沉默和致癌反转录病毒激活等。因此,表观遗传修饰为前列腺癌研究提供了新途径。前列腺细胞恶性转化过程中启动子甲基化是普遍存在的,组蛋白修饰与前列腺癌的临床和病理结果预测有关。并且,由去甲基化剂和组蛋白去乙酰酶抑制剂引起的肿瘤抑制基因激活,可能是一个晚期疾病患者潜在的治疗选择。

The Epigenome as a Therapeutic Target in Prostate Cancer

During prostate cancer development and progression, tumor cells undergo abnormal epigenetic modifications, and these aberrations promote genomic instability and lead to silencing of tumor-suppressor genes and reactivation of oncogenic retroviruses. Epigenetic modifications, therefore, provide new avenues for prostate cancer research. Promoter hypermethylation is widespread during neoplastic transformation of prostate cells,histone modifications arc also being defined and have been associated with clinical and pathological predictors of prostate cancer outcome. Furthermore, reactivation of tumor-suppressor genes by demethylating agents and histone deacetylase inhibitors could be a potential treatment option for patients with advanced disease.