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Review
. 2017 May;18(5):365-372.
doi: 10.1631/jzus.B1600579.

DNA methylation in the tumor microenvironment

Meng-Wen Zhang  1   2   3   4 , Kenji Fujiwara  3   4 , Xu Che  3   4 , Shu Zheng  1   2 , Lei Zheng  3   4
Affiliations
Review

DNA methylation in the tumor microenvironment

Meng-Wen Zhang et al. J Zhejiang Univ Sci B. 2017 May.

Abstract

The tumor microenvironment (TME) plays an important role in supporting cancer progression. The TME is composed of tumor cells, the surrounding tumor-associated stromal cells, and the extracellular matrix (ECM). Crosstalk between the TME components contributes to tumorigenesis. Recently, one of our studies showed that pancreatic ductal adenocarcinoma (PDAC) cells can induce DNA methylation in cancer-associated fibroblasts (CAFs), thereby modifying tumor-stromal interactions in the TME, and subsequently creating a TME that supports tumor growth. Here we summarize recent studies about how DNA methylation affects tumorigenesis through regulating tumor-associated stromal components including fibroblasts and immune cells. We also discuss the potential for targeting DNA methylation for the treatment of cancers.

Keywords: Tumor microenvironment (TME); DNA methylation; Cancer-associated fibroblasts; Cancer-associated immune cells; Epigenetic therapy.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

Compliance with ethics guidelines: Meng-wen ZHANG, Kenji FUJIWARA, Xu CHE, Shu ZHENG, and Lei ZHENG declare that they have no conflict of interest.

This article does not contain any studies with human or animal subjects performed by any of the authors.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
Schematic representation of the TME A typical tumor microenvironment (TME) is composed mainly of cancer cells, cancer-associated fibroblasts (CAFs), multiple types of immune cells (T lymphocytes, B cells, natural killer (NK) cells, macrophages, and antigen presenting cells), vessels, and extracellular matrix (ECM)
Fig. 2
Fig. 2
Epigenetic regulation, such as histone modification, non-coding RNA regulation, and DNA methylation, leads to different gene expressions in the tumor microenvironment (TME)
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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