Fundamental differences in promoter CpG island DNA hypermethylation between human cancer and genetically engineered mouse models of cancer.

ABSTRACT: Genetic and epigenetic alterations are essential for the initiation and progression of human cancer. We previously reported that primary human medulloblastomas showed extensive cancer-specific CpG island DNA hypermethylation in critical developmental pathways. To determine whether genetically engineered mouse models (GEMMs) of medulloblastoma have comparable epigenetic changes, we assessed genome-wide DNA methylation in three mouse models of medulloblastoma. In contrast to human samples, very few loci with cancer-specific DNA hypermethylation were detected, and in almost all cases the degree of methylation was relatively modest compared with the dense hypermethylation in the human cancers. To determine if this finding was common to other GEMMs, we examined a Burkitt lymphoma and breast can

SUBMITTER: Diede SJ 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3933486 | biostudies-literature | 2013 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature