Role of DNA methylation and epigenetic silencing of HAND2 in endometrial cancer development.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Endometrial cancer incidence is continuing to rise in the wake of the current ageing and obesity epidemics. Much of the risk for endometrial cancer development is influenced by the environment and lifestyle. Accumulating evidence suggests that the epigenome serves as the interface between the genome and the environment and that hypermethylation of stem cell polycomb group target genes is an epigenetic hallmark of cancer. The objective of this study was to determine the functional role of epigenetic factors in endometrial cancer development.

Methods and findings

Epigenome-wide methylation analysis of >27,000 CpG sites in endometrial cancer tissue samples (n = 64) and control samples (n = 23) revealed that HAND2 (a gene encoding a transcription factor expressed in t

SUBMITTER: Jones A 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3825654 | biostudies-literature | 2013 Nov

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature