New therapeutic targets in cancer: the epigenetic connection

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Cancer is an epigenetic disease, a combination ofDNA modifications, chromatin organization and variationsin its associated proteins, configure a new entitythat regulates gene function throughout methylation,acetylation and chromatin remodelling. Irregular denovo DNA methylation, mainly promoter hypermethylation,histone deacetylation or methylation areimportant means for the transcriptional repression ofcancer-associated genes. Reverse these epigeneticprocesses restoring normal expression of malignancy-preventing-genes has consequently become a newtherapeutic target in cancer treatment. Aberrant patternsof epigenetic modifications will be, in a near future,crucial parameters in cancer diagnosis, prognosisand therapy