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Cancer epigenomics

 Guest editor: Stephan Beck

Large-scale sequencing and high-throughput studies of a wide variety of cancers are revealing epigenomic variations, including DNA methylation and histone modifications, as well as mutations in genes involved in epigenetic regulation. These findings are providing insights into cancer initiation and progression, are allowing the identification and development of epigenetic biomarkers for diagnosis, prognosis or therapeutic response, and are revealing novel approaches and targets for therapeutic intervention. Genome Medicine presents a series of articles focusing on cancer epigenomics, with commissioned comment and review articles, and original research, featuring the latest advances and translational findings with the potential to inform new approaches for screening, diagnosis, prevention and treatment of cancer.

This collection of articles has not been sponsored and articles have undergone the journal’s standard peer-review process. The Guest Editor declares no competing interests.

  2. Wilms tumours (WTs) are characterised by several hallmarks that suggest epimutations such as aberrant DNA methylation are involved in tumour progression: loss of imprinting at 11p15, lack of recurrent mutation...

    Authors: Jocelyn Charlton, Richard D Williams, Neil J Sebire, Sergey Popov, Gordan Vujanic, Tasnim Chagtai, Marisa Alcaide-German, Tiffany Morris, Lee M Butcher, Paul Guilhamon, Stephan Beck and Kathy Pritchard-Jones
    Citation: Genome Medicine 2015 7:11
    Content type: Research Published on:

  3. The discovery that ten-eleven translocation (TET) proteins are α-ketoglutarate-dependent dioxygenases involved in the conversion of 5-methylcytosines (5-mC) to 5-hydroxymethylcytosine (5-hmC), 5-formylcytosine...

    Authors: Laurianne Scourzic, Enguerran Mouly and Olivier A Bernard
    Citation: Genome Medicine 2015 7:9
    Content type: Review Published on:

  5. The use of tumour xenografts is a well-established research tool in cancer genomics but has not yet been comprehensively evaluated for cancer epigenomics.

    Authors: Paul Guilhamon, Lee M Butcher, Nadege Presneau, Gareth A Wilson, Andrew Feber, Dirk S Paul, Moritz Schütte, Johannes Haybaeck, Ulrich Keilholz, Jens Hoffman, Mark T Ross, Adrienne M Flanagan and Stephan Beck
    Citation: Genome Medicine 2014 6:116
    Content type: Research Published on:

  7. The comparison of DNA methylation patterns across cancer types (pan-cancer methylome analyses) has revealed distinct subgroups of tumors that share similar methylation patterns. Integration of these data with ...

    Authors: Tania Witte, Christoph Plass and Clarissa Gerhauser
    Citation: Genome Medicine 2014 6:66
    Content type: Review Published on:

  8. One of the most provocative recent observations in cancer epigenetics is the discovery of large hypomethylated blocks, including single copy genes, in colorectal cancer, that correspond in location to heteroch...

    Authors: Winston Timp, Hector Corrada Bravo, Oliver G McDonald, Michael Goggins, Chris Umbricht, Martha Zeiger, Andrew P Feinberg and Rafael A Irizarry
    Citation: Genome Medicine 2014 6:61
    Content type: Research Published on:

  9. BRCA1 mutation carriers have an 85% risk of developing breast cancer but the risk of developing non-hereditary breast cancer is difficult to assess. Our objective is to test whether a DNA methylation (DNAme) sign...

    Authors: Shahzia Anjum, Evangelia-Ourania Fourkala, Michal Zikan, Andrew Wong, Aleksandra Gentry-Maharaj, Allison Jones, Rebecca Hardy, David Cibula, Diana Kuh, Ian J Jacobs, Andrew E Teschendorff, Usha Menon and Martin Widschwendter
    Citation: Genome Medicine 2014 6:47
    Content type: Research Published on:

  13. Aberrant DNA methylation is frequently found in human malignancies including acute myeloid leukemia (AML). While most studies focus on later disease stages, the onset of aberrant DNA methylation events and the...

    Authors: Miriam Sonnet, Rainer Claus, Natalia Becker, Manuela Zucknick, Jana Petersen, Daniel B Lipka, Christopher C Oakes, Mindaugas Andrulis, Amelie Lier, Michael D Milsom, Tania Witte, Lei Gu, Soo-Zin Kim-Wanner, Peter Schirmacher, Michael Wulfert, Norbert Gattermann…
    Citation: Genome Medicine 2014 6:34
    Content type: Research Published on: