DOI: 10.21276/sasjm.2019.5.3.2

Pages: 42-50

DNA methylation is the prominent chemical process in regulating gene expression, which is strongly associated with normal development and cell functions. DNA methyltransferases (DNMTs) serve both functions of establishing and maintenance of the original pattern DNA methylation. Epigenetic modifications are resulted from alterations of DNA methylation patterns occurring in coding strands, thus increase DNA adduct formation, somatic mutations, and oncogene activation. Promoter hypermethylation silences tumor-suppressor, and regulation and expression of gene due to DNA methylation have been mostly focused in human cancer research. But, global DNA hypomethylation contributing to genomic instability and cell transformation has been also shown as a cause of oncogenesis. DNA methylation of the promoter region for genes associated to cancer is raising as a potential marker for early detection, prognosis and real-time follow-up of tumor dynamics. This paper aims to review the crucial role of DNA methylation in gene regulation and the effect of the aberrations in DNA methylation in human cancer progression and development. The elucidation of aberrant DNA methylation deemed as a cancer-inducing mechanism may help the discovering of prognostic DNA methylation markers useful in cancer therapy