Epigenetic alterations in preneoplastic and neoplastic lesions of the cervix

Cervical cancer (CC) is one of the most malignant tumors and the second or third most common type of cancer in women worldwide. The association between human papillomavirus (HPV) and CC is widely known and accepted (99.7% of cases). At present, the pathogenesis mechanisms of CC are not entirely clea...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Clinical epigenetics 2012-08, Vol.4 (1), p.13-13, Article 13
Main Authors: Saavedra, Kathleen P, Brebi, Priscilla M, Roa, Juan Carlos S
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Antimitotic agents
Antineoplastic agents
Biomarkers
Cervical cancer
Complications and side effects
Development and progression
DNA sequencing
Epigenetic inheritance
Epigenetics alterations
Gene expression
Gene mutations
Genes
Genetic aspects
Human papillomavirus
Methylation
Nucleotide sequencing
Papillomavirus infections
Review
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Summary:Cervical cancer (CC) is one of the most malignant tumors and the second or third most common type of cancer in women worldwide. The association between human papillomavirus (HPV) and CC is widely known and accepted (99.7% of cases). At present, the pathogenesis mechanisms of CC are not entirely clear. It has been shown that inactivation of tumor suppressor genes and activation of oncogenes play a significant role in carcinogenesis, caused by the genetic and epigenetic alterations. In the past, it was generally thought that genetic mutation was a key event of tumor pathogenesis, especially somatic mutation of tumor suppressor genes. With deeper understanding of tumors in recent years, increasing evidence has shown that epigenetic silencing of those genes, as a result of aberrant hypermethylation of CpG islands in promoters and histone modification, is essential to carcinogenesis and metastasis. The term epigenetics refers to heritable changes in gene expression caused by regulation mechanisms, other than changes in DNA sequence. Specific epigenetic processes include DNA methylation, chromotin remodeling, histone modification, and microRNA regulations. These alterations, in combination or individually, make it possible to establish the methylation profiles, histone modification maps, and expression profiles characteristic of this pathology, which become useful tools for screening, early detection, or prognostic markers in cervical cancer. This paper reviews recent epigenetics research progress in the CC study, and tries to depict the relationships between CC and DNA methylation, histone modification, as well as microRNA regulations.
ISSN:1868-7075
1868-7083
1868-7083
DOI:10.1186/1868-7083-4-13