表观遗传学在结直肠癌中的应用进展

结直肠癌（CRC）的发生、发展伴随着许多基因的表达变化，但其具体调控机制至今仍未完全阐明。近年来对CRC表观遗传学尤其是微小RNA（miRNA）、异常DNA甲基化及组蛋白修饰状态等方面的研究受到广泛关注。研究证实，CRC进展过程中均存在异常的甲基化基因和miRNA的表达变化。与癌症基因组的基因突变一样，这类遗传学的分子改变在CRC中扮演着重要角色。表观遗传学的特异性改变可作为CRC诊断、治疗和预后的临床生物学标记物，对表观遗传学进行深入研究对CRC的防治具有重要指导意义。

Advances of epigenetic alterations in colorectal cancer

The fundamental processes of driving the initiation and progression of colorectal cancer（CRC）is the accumulation of a variety of genetic changes，but its regulation mechanism has not been fully explained. Over the past decades，major advances have been made in our understanding of cancer epigenetics，particularly regarding microRNA（miRNA），aberrant DNA methylation and alterations in histone modification states. Assessment of CRC has revealed that virtually all CRCs have altered miRNA expression and aberrantly methylated genes. As with gene mutations in the cancer genome, these epigenetic alterations have a functional role in CRC. The epigenetic alterations in CRC have developed as clinical biomarkers for diagnostic，prognostic and therapeutic applications. Progress in this area suggests that these epigenetic alterations will be commonly used in the near future to direct the prevention and treatment of CRC.