肿瘤表观遗传学研究进展

对肿瘤研究的不断深入使人们认识到几乎所有人类肿瘤都是由表观遗传学异常与基因改变共同引起并促进其演变的.表观遗传学改变主要包括DNA甲基化改变和组蛋白修饰,这两种调控模式本身及之间的相互作用网络可导致印记丢失,染色质重塑,非必需重复序列的转录、基因的异常活化以及抑制肿瘤发生和演进基因的异常沉默等,在异常的克隆性增生和癌性增生的级联事件起始中发挥重要作用,在酵母模型中的研究更深入的理解了肿瘤干细胞的定义以及引起肿瘤的相关分子机制.表观遗传学的研究为进一步了解肿瘤的各种特性,优化肿瘤的早期诊断,改善肿瘤的预后提供了新的策略.

Research progress in the field of tumor epigenetics

A growing body of evidence suggests that al- most all tumors result from both epigenetic abnormality and gene mutation,which then pro- mote tumor progression.Epigenetic abnormality mainly includes changes in DNA methylation and the modification of histone.These two regu- latory modes and the corresponding interacting network between them can lead to the loss of imprinting,chromatin remodeling,transcrip- tion of repeat sequences,abnormal activation of genes,and inactivation of tumor suppressors. Furthermore,they also have a vital role in aber- rant cell proliferation and in the earliest stages of tumorigenesis.Research into yeast models provides a basis for a better understanding and definition of cancer stem cells and the relative molecular mechanisms that induce tumors.Re- search in the field of tumor epigenetics shows promise as a way to understand the various characteristics of tumors,to optimize the early diagnosis of tumors,and to improve the progno- sis for patients with tumors.