Epigenomic analysis detects aberrant super-enhancer DNA methylation in human cancer.

ABSTRACT:

Background

One of the hallmarks of cancer is the disruption of gene expression patterns. Many molecular lesions contribute to this phenotype, and the importance of aberrant DNA methylation profiles is increasingly recognized. Much of the research effort in this area has examined proximal promoter regions and epigenetic alterations at other loci are not well characterized.

Results

Using whole genome bisulfite sequencing to examine uncharted regions of the epigenome, we identify a type of far-reaching DNA methylation alteration in cancer cells of the distal regulatory sequences described as super-enhancers. Human tumors undergo a shift in super-enhancer DNA methylation profiles that is associated with the transcriptional silencing or the overactivation of the corresponding tar

SUBMITTER: Heyn H 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC4728783 | biostudies-literature | 2016 Jan

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature