Epigenetics of hepatocellular carcinoma

Abstract

In recent years, large scale genomics and genome-wide studies using comprehensive genomic tools have reshaped our understanding of cancer evolution and heterogeneity. Hepatocellular carcinoma, being one of the most deadly cancers in the world has been well established as a disease of the genome that harbours a multitude of genetic and epigenetic aberrations during the process of liver carcinogenesis. As such, in depth understanding of the cancer epigenetics in cancer specimens and biopsy can be useful in clinical settings for molecular subclassification, prognosis, and prediction of therapeutic responses. In this review, we present a concise discussion on recent progress in the field of liver cancer epigenetics and some of the current works that contribute to the progress of liver cancer therapeutics.

Keywords: DNA methylation; Epigenome; HCC; Histone methylation; Liver cancer; ncRNA.

Fig. 1

Schematic diagram displaying CpG annotations of genomic regions

Fig. 2

DNA methylation profile in cancer. Liver cancer cells typically exhibit DNA hypermethylation at promoter sites of tumor suppressor genes, resulting in silencing of these tumor suppressive genes

Fig. 3

MicroRNAs in cancer. Elevation of oncogenic miRNAs (oncomiRs) results in silencing of tumor suppressor genes while downregulation of tumor suppressor miRNAs leads to reduced inhibition of oncogenes, consequently lead to the development of liver cancer