Synopsis of epigenetics / 中华实验眼科杂志

ABSTRACT

Epigenetics has become a hot topic in biomedical research in last a few years.Epigenetics refers to as epigenome,and it is interpreted as epigenetic changes (DNA methylation,histone modifications and non-coding RNAs such as microRNAs) in the regulation of genes expression on chromatin-based pathways rather than a single gene.Epigenetic factors such as DNA methylation,histone modification and miRNA serve as an interface for environmental stimuli and interacts each other to regulate gene expression and control phenotypes of cell.All of those epigenetic factors are essential in the keeping homeostasis of human body and contribute to many biologic conditions.In addition,the application of epigenetic drugs has been come into clinical trials especially in the treatment of cancers,therefore the understanding the mechanism of epigenetics in the development of human diseases and the therapeutic potential of epigenetic regulators in the treatment of human disease will bring us into the epigenetics era in biomedical research.