Cancer Epigenetics

Cancer develops through genetic and epigenetic alterations that lead the cellular machinery into a set of uncontrolled mechanisms of cell division, invasion and metastasis. Epigenetic changes are present in all human cancers and are now known to cooperate with genetic alterations to drive the cancer phenotype. Epigenetics represents a wide range of changes that regulate gene expression yet does not cause changes in the primary base-sequence of the DNA. Epigenetic regulations may occur through several mechanisms, such as DNA methylation, histone modifications, and by noncoding RNA. Epigenetic regulators can be categorized into those that write the marks (writers); those that read the marks (readers), and; those that erase the marks (erasers). Novel technologies may further explore epigenetics for the ability to define risk, to investigate mechanisms of carcinogenesis, to identify biomarkers, and finally, to use as therapeutic options. This chapter will give a brief introduction into the vast and ongoing field of epigenetics research in cancer.