Cancer is ultimately a disease of gene expression in which the complex networks governing homeostasis in multicellular organisms are disrupted, allowing cells to grow as a whole without reference to the needs of the organism. However, the prospect of genetic modification is not sufficient to explain changes in pervasive gene expression and changes in cell function in cancer. Clarifying the relationships between different epigenetic mechanisms and regulating their gene expression is essential to finding hidden sources of cancer variability and treatment choices. Epigenetic changes complement genomic changes during cancer progression and response to therapy.
In this seminar, we present epigenetic changes along with databases and methods of their analysis. Finally, we define the relationship between epigenetic regulation and gene or protein expression so that we can develop epigenetic therapies by determining the true epigenetic regulatory mechanisms and pathological stimuli of cancer.