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. 2019 Nov;20(16):1151-1157.
doi: 10.2217/pgs-2019-0078.

Targeting DNA methylation for treating triple-negative breast cancer

Jia Yu  1 , Jacqueline Zayas  2 , Bo Qin  1   3 , Liewei Wang  1
Affiliations

Targeting DNA methylation for treating triple-negative breast cancer

Jia Yu et al. Pharmacogenomics. 2019 Nov.

Abstract

Triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC) accounts for 15-20% of all invasive breast cancers and tends to have aggressive histological features and poor clinical outcomes. Unlike, estrogen receptor- or HER2-positive diseases, TNBC patients currently lack the US FDA-approved targeted therapies. DNA methylation is a critical mechanism of epigenetic modification. It is well known that aberrant DNA methylation contributes to the malignant transformation of cells by silencing critical tumor suppressor genes. DNA methyltransferase inhibitors reactivate silenced tumor suppressor genes and result in tumor growth arrest, with therapeutic effects observed in patients with hematologic malignancies. The antitumor effect of these DNA methyltransferase inhibitors has also been explored in solid tumors, especially in TNBC that currently lacks targeted therapies.

Keywords: DNA methylation; DNA methyltransferase; DNA methyltransferase inhibitor; TNBC; breast cancer.

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Conflict of interest statement

Financial & competing interests disclosure

This work was supported by the Mayo Clinic Center for Individualized Medicine; the NIH (RO1 CA 196648 to L Wang). The authors have no other relevant affiliations or financial involvement with any organization or entity with a financial interest in or financial conflict with the subject matter or materials discussed in the manuscript apart from those disclosed.

No writing assistance was utilized in the production of this manuscript.

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