Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Comment
. 2012 Oct 23;13(10):173.
doi: 10.1186/gb-2012-13-10-2012.

Balance of DNA methylation and demethylation in cancer development

Chun-Xiao Song, Chuan He
Comment

Balance of DNA methylation and demethylation in cancer development

Chun-Xiao Song et al. Genome Biol. .

Abstract

Genome-wide 5-hydroxymethylome analysis of a rodent hepatocarcinogen model reveals that 5-hydroxymethylcytosine-dependent active DNA demethylation may be functionally important in the early stages of carcinogenesis.

PubMed Disclaimer

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Perturbation of DNA methylation and demethylation by carcinogens during early stages of cancer development. DNA methylation patterns are dynamically balanced by methylation and demethylation processes. Exposure of cells to carcinogens could lead to transcriptional remodeling and histone mark switches at key genes through signaling pathways. The promoter regions of these genes lose 5mC and gain 5hmC at the early stages of exposure, perhaps due to activated demethylation, and these changes ultimately lead to the aberrant methylation pattern seen in cancer. 5caC, 5-carboxylcytosine; 5fC, 5-formylcytosine; 5hmC, 5-hydroxymethylcytosine; 5mC, 5-methylcytosine; DNMTi, DNA methyltransferase inhibitor; HDACi, histone deacetylase inhibitor.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Comment on

References

    1. Jones PA, Baylin SB. The epigenomics of cancer. Cell. 2007;128:683–692. doi: 10.1016/j.cell.2007.01.029. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Feinberg AP, Ohlsson R, Henikoff S. The epigenetic progenitor origin of human cancer. Nat Rev Genet. 2006;7:21–33. doi: 10.1038/nrg1748. - DOI - PubMed
    1. Thomson JP, Lempiäinen H, Hackett JA, Nestor CE, Müller A, Bolognani F, Oakeley EJ, Schübeler D, Terranova R, Reinhardt D, Moggs JG, Meehan RR. Non-genotoxic carcinogen exposure induces defined changes in the 5-hydroxymethylome. Genome Biol. 2012;13:R93. doi: 10.1186/gb-2012-13-10-r93. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Kriaucionis S, Heintz N. The nuclear DNA base 5-hydroxymethylcytosine is present in Purkinje neurons and the brain. Science. 2009;324:929–930. doi: 10.1126/science.1169786. - DOI - PMC - PubMed
    1. Tahiliani M, Koh KP, Shen Y, Pastor WA, Bandukwala H, Brudno Y, Agarwal S, Iyer LM, Liu DR, Aravind L, Agarwal S, Maciejewski JP, Rao A. Conversion of 5-methylcytosine to 5-hydroxymethylcytosine in mammalian DNA by MLL partner TET1. Science. 2009;324:930–935. doi: 10.1126/science.1170116. - DOI - PMC - PubMed

LinkOut - more resources